As a long-time fan of Leon and Brunetti, this series has been tailing off, but there are still pleasures to be had in the company of characters who feel like old friends: Guido and his adorable family, the divine Signorina Elettra and the others. The plot meanders without much direction or even investigation, and time is taken up with a minor character revealing he is gay -sadly, still a fraught revelation in some groups but it feels a little laboured as an exercise for Guido to display his tolerance and humanity. There is much delving into the past and while Leon ties it up with some neatness, this is not classic Leon. New readers would be better starting with the earlier hard-hitting books.

I have not read any of this series before and I think that left me at a disadvantage. I liked the central character and the setting but I found the plot meandered a bit. There was also several things happening to keep track of.

The style of writing is fine and maybe I will try the first in the series to see if that works for me.

I read a copy provided by NetGalley and the publishers.