Review: Earthly Remains

Earthly Remains by Donna Leon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm a total Donna Leon fan, and I'd usually give her 6 or 7 stars out of 5, that's how much I like the Commissario Brunetti series. This book, however, although very good, is not among my favorites.

For one, I think there were too many things going on. Some contemporary issues were recreated in the book and, for me at least, it was too much: we have both the death of bees and the hatred of Venetians for tourists.

We still have the amazing characters that we've met before: Brunetti, Paola, Patta, signorina Elettra, Brunelli, Pucetti.
This time, the book takes place near Venice, in Sant' Erasmo, in the middle of the laguna. Brunetti, suffering from burnout and a bit of depression from work, is spending a fortnight in a house belonging to one of Paola's wealthy relatives, in order to rest and recuperate.

There, he befriends the caretaker, who was also his father's rowing partner many years ago. When the old man is found drowned, Brunetti returns to work in order to find if it was an accident or murder.
And here we have the old Brunetti, somewhat disillusioned and wary of his work, but in top form when it comes to solving the case.


I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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