The Traitor
ISBN: 9780312994471
Donna Leon?s fifteenth mystery is set on the island of Murano where her hero, Commissario Guido Brunetti, investigates a murder at a glass furnace (fornace) there. Prior to the murder, Brunetti started snooping around Murano because of suspicion that one of the factory owners may be out to do bodily harm to his son-in-law, an environmental activist and good friend of Brunetti?s sidekick, Vianello. Leon writes her novels in the third person, and thus, almost everything is seen through Brunetti?s thoughts and judgments. Through Brunetti?s eyes, we experience a wonderful springtime in Venice and superb descriptions of glassware and the age-old art of glass making. Leon has done a lot of research for this book which is a primer on glass making lore and the operation of the factories on Murano. There also is biting social commentary on the effects of industrial pollution on the lagoon by not only the glass factories but also by the chemical and oil industries in nearby Margera. As is often ...