By its Cover: A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery
*Starred Review* Think of Leon’s latest Guido Brunetti novel as a love letter to her fans, many of whom are librarians. The premise involves the theft and mutilation of rare books from a private research library, and much of the action takes place in the library itself, with Brunetti inhaling the aroma of aging parchment and fondly remembering his student days. Ah, but amid all this biblio-love, there is a real crime—not only the theft but also the murder of one of the library’s regular patrons. As usual, the focus rests with the people involved in and on the periphery of the case. Brunetti’s concern is always with individuals: how they come to do the things they do and what that says about them and about us. At one point, the police pathologist muses, “You know, Guido, at times I find it difficult to believe you do the work you do.” One might say the same of Leon: her books, despite employing the structure of traditional mysteries, are so very different from most crime novels, even those characterized as character-driven. For example, in one four-page scene in which Brunetti questions the brother of the victim, we see the unique sensibility Leon brings to the genre: sure she shows what a skilled interrogator her detective is, but between the lines, there is so much more: Brunetti’s remarkable sensitivity to other human beings, his ability not just to see what they are feeling but to share those feelings and to internalize their melancholy. Above all, Brunetti is a careful reader, of people, of places, of situations, and he never stops at surface meanings. That’s why we bookish types adore him the way we do, and why this will likely be one of his most-loved adventures.      HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Its a new Leon novel, and its set in a library. Must we go on? --Bill Ott