As I write this post,Donna Leon has published 33 books in her Commissario Guido Brunetti series. I've just finished reading #19 in the series - A Question of Belief. Leon published the first novel in the series, Death at La Fenice in 1992 at the age of 50. Leon will turn 82 in September (2024) and by publishing #33 - A Refiner's Fire earlier this year, Leon is maintaining a pace that many younger writers would envy.
Like many of her novels, A Question of Belief contains within it more than one story line. One of the two main stories in this book revolves around a charlatan who takes advantage of susceptible individuals with claims of knowledge of astrology, palm reading and other bits of occult "wisdom". The other story deals with the murder of a court clerk. Wikipedia describes the book this way:
Brunetti learns of a curious pattern at the courthouse: cases involving a certain judge and usher are repeatedly postponed in a way that benefits a certain lawyer. What's more, the usher is leasing an apartment from the lawyer at an extremely low rent — until he is murdered.
I'm not inclined to give spoilers; like in a good many of Leon's novels, this novel ends with us knowing the outcome, but that outcome isn't resolved in a matter normally found in traditional crime fiction. It leaves one with the feeling that justice isn't necessarily served well in the Italian legal system.
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