The Girl of His Dreams

by Donna Leon

This is the first book I have read by this mystery writer. 

The mystery features a Venetian Commissario Guido Brunetti.  As the book opens Brunetti is grieving the death of his mother.  He is still mourning his mother and is very upset to find a young girl of perhaps 10 drowned in the canal.  He is more shocked to learn that she has a watch in her pocket, a ring up her vagina and that she has veneral disease.  The girl has red paint/crumbs on her.  It appears she may have slid or been thrown down a roof.

The ring is engraved so he is able to identify who it belonged to.  The man is in Russia and his wife is surprised at the theft and denies any knowledge of a break-in.

They are able to identify the girl as a gypsy/Roma with previous interaction with police.  They go to the parents to report the death.  The mother is distraught the father seems disinterested but they do not come to claim their daughter.  They end up leaving town with a |"new" car.  Brunetti finds out that the daughter of the house that was robbed was dating the son of a government minister.  He is told to back off even if he thinks the family had something to do with the girl's death.

There is another story about a priest who comes to Brunetti about a false prophet trying to take money from people.  He manages to get officials onto the man and he leaves town.  Not sure why this story was part of the book, it seemed somewhat extraneous.  I expected the two stories to somehow be connected.

Brunetti has a boss, somewhat similar to the boss that Frost has in A Touch of Frost, coming up with crazy ideas for new procedures, very sensitive to politics in police investigations.  Brunetti manages to do what he needs to do despite his boss.  The book also shows the happy relationship Brunetti has with his wife.

This was an entertaining if not meaty mystery.