I always relish a new mystery in Donna Leon’s series starring Commissario Guido Brunetti. There is no better literary tour guide to Venice and the surrounding landscape than Leon, and each entry provides complex, memorable characters and storylines that touch the moral center of the human spirit.

At the start of SO SHALL YOU REAP, the 32nd and latest installment, Brunetti is busy fussing with the reorganization of his home library on his day off when he gets a call from Ispettore Vianello. Vianello informs him that Alvise, one of their officers, is being held at a police station in Treviso after getting into a scuffle with an officer there during a gay rights rally.

"SO SHALL YOU REAP is authentic throughout and lives up to the lofty reputation that Donna Leon has rightly earned for this series, which never fails to enlighten with each new intriguing mystery."

Brunetti and Vianello are able to smooth things over and get Alvise released without any charges. They were completely unaware that their colleague of 20 years might be gay. It is not a commentary on male ignorance in the workplace, just a testament to how little we may actually know about the people with whom we work closely. Alvise, a single man in his early 50s, is finally comfortable admitting his sexuality to them and talking about his partner.

SO SHALL YOU REAP is full of secrets. The larger case here revolves around the murder of a Sri Lankan man named Inesh, who had been living in Venice for many years. His body is found in the canal, and there are no immediate suspects or motives for this apparently senseless crime. Inesh resided in the garden house of a wealthy older Venetian couple for eight years. All they knew about him was that he was nice, quiet and a devout Buddhist. Inspection of his small residence confirms this as Brunetti does not find much more than a statue of Buddha and a number of books, mostly crime fiction.

A follow-up with the local bookseller confirms that Inesh was a regular customer and reader who preferred mysteries and thrillers to help him better learn the local language and customs. What’s more puzzling, and eventually a concerning part of the investigation, is that Inesh possessed a lot of material regarding real estate, Italian politics and past cases that involved these subjects in a potential criminal light. What interest would a Sri Lankan immigrant have with such matters?

The answers will come from Brunetti diving back into his own days at university. Along with the great help of his team at the Questura, an eye-opening answer to Inesh’s murder presents itself and will force Brunetti to face his own past in an unexpected way.

SO SHALL YOU REAP is authentic throughout and lives up to the lofty reputation that Donna Leon has rightly earned for this series, which never fails to enlighten with each new intriguing mystery.