Fatal Remedies by Donna Leon: A review

Paola Brunetti is a woman who feels injustice keenly. Particularly when that injustice is dealt to innocent children. She has recently become aware that travel agencies in her own city of Venice are selling sex tours to Southeast Asia. These sex tours offer children as their objects. Children are being raped for the pleasure of sick, rich men. Paola feels a compulsion to act.

The travel agencies are not technically breaking any Venetian or Italian law; their transgression is against morality. Paola decides to protest in a way that will get the attention of the agencies and, she hopes, the public. And so, in the early morning hours one day, she goes to the local travel agency with a very large rock which she hurls through the front window, setting off the burglar alarm. Then she sits down on a bench and waits to be arrested.

The two local gendarmes show up and question her about what happened, asking her if she can describe the vandal. She offers them a description and, at length, they realize she is describing herself. They take her into custody and take her to the police station where they discover that she is, in fact, the wife of Commissario Guido Brunetti. They call the Commissario and he comes to pick up Paola and manages to arrange things so that she is not charged.

Paola, however, is not content to let things lie. A few nights later, after the window she broke has been replaced, she goes to the agency again and tosses another rock through the window. This time she is charged and the local newspapers learn what has happened. A feeding frenzy ensues, much to the chagrin of Guido and Paola's father.

Meantime, Guido has been involved in the investigation of a robbery that may have Mafia connections and this leads to the death of the wife of a witness to the robbery - a death that is initially thought to be an accident but which Guido believes is murder.

Before this can be resolved, another death occurs. There's no doubt this time; it's murder by garrote. The victim is the owner of the travel agency that Paola vandalized and a note is left at the scene indicating a linkage with the vandalism. Could Paola have taken her protest to another level?

Moreover, when the police dig into the life and finances of the latest murder victim, they discover even more nastiness having to do with the shipment of out-of-date and adulterated medications for use in unsuspecting Third World countries. Was there no limit to the man's evil?

Poor Guido has his hands full, but he has his loyal helpers at the Questura, especially Signorina Elettra and Ispettore Vianello, on his team, so we can be assured that some form of justice will be achieved.

This is the eighth entry in Leon's Guido Brunetti series and it is one of my favorites. I particularly enjoyed the development of his wife Paola's character, as well as the mysterious (to Guido) workings of Signorina Elettra. This book was published in 1999 and, at this point, computers are still a complete mystery to Guido. He has no idea how to do an internet search or how email works! Fortunately for him, Signorina Elettra, with all of her contacts and her computer expertise, is on the job.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Poetry Sunday: Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver

How about we share another Mary Oliver poem? After all, you can never have too many of those. In this one, the poet seems to acknowledge that it is often hard to simply live in and enjoy the moment, perhaps because we are afraid it can't last. She urges us to give in to that moment and fully experience the joy. Although "much can never be redeemed, still, life has some possibility left." Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is no...

Poetry Sunday: Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney

My mother was a farm wife and a prodigious canner. She canned fruit and vegetables from the garden, even occasionally meat. But the best thing that she canned, in my opinion, was blackberry jam. Even as I type those words my mouth waters! Of course, before she could make that jam, somebody had to pick the blackberries. And that somebody was quite often named Dorothy. I think Seamus Heaney might have spent some time among the briars plucking those delicious black fruits as well, so he would have known that "Once off the bush the fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour." They don't keep; you have to get that jam made in a hurry! Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney Late August, given heavy rain and sun For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. At first, just one, a glossy purple clot Among others, red, green, hard as a knot. You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust ...

Poetry Sunday: Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman

You probably remember poet Amanda Gorman from her appearance at the inauguration of President Biden. She read her poem "The Hill We Climb" on that occasion. After the senseless slaughter in Uvalde this week, she was inspired to write another poem which was published in The New York Times. It seemed perfect for the occasion and so I stole it in order to feature it here, just in case you didn't get a chance to read it in the Times . Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman Everything hurts, Our hearts shadowed and strange, Minds made muddied and mute. We carry tragedy, terrifying and true. And yet none of it is new; We knew it as home, As horror, As heritage. Even our children Cannot be children, Cannot be. Everything hurts. It’s a hard time to be alive, And even harder to stay that way. We’re burdened to live out these days, While at the same time, blessed to outlive them. This alarm is how we know We must be altered — That we must differ or die, That we must triumph or try. ...

The Nature of Things

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