Uniform Justice

An Impeccably Bleak Depiction of Corruption

Uniform Justice by Donna Leon is a faultlessly grim study of greed and dishonesty.

An apparent suicide becomes a complex and disturbing murder case as the trail leads to politicians and businessmen. Donna Leon’s writing is intense and realistic as she exposes Italian corruption.

There are no happy endings here.

Synopsis

Early one morning, a cadet at the San Martino Military Academy in Venice stumbled through the dark to the bathroom. He was searching for water to assuage his hangover. A huge bat confronted him as he returned to his bedroom, hanging from the ceiling. Panicking, the cadet fumbled to find the light switch and the bat dissolved. In its place was a fellow student, Augusto Morro. He was hanging from the ceiling wearing his dark winter cloak.

When Commissario Brunetti arrived to investigate the suicide, teachers and students blocked him at every turn. The Comandante of the academy was too busy up to see him, the teachers stonewalled him, and the students were silent and contemptuous.

The wall of silence didn’t match the simple suicide of an unhappy boy.

The boy’s father, a former member of the Italian Parliament, Dr Moro, was devastated by his son’s death. Whilst both he and his estranged wife were convinced that the boy’s death could not have been suicide, neither was keen to help the investigation. When it became clear that Dr Moro may have had too much integrity to be a politician, the spectre of corruption drifted out from the shadows.

Review

Donna Leon writes a slow, measured story. It develops layers of understanding as Brunetti — who has a son the same age as the murdered boy — struggles to make sense of the crime and the parents’ behaviour.

Her characters are refined and intelligent. She is more interested in motive than action. She builds upon the politics of everyday office life, impassively exposing the corruption that percolates Italian society.

Leon’s writing is impeccable. Her style is neither hardboiled nor horrific, yet this is one of the bleakest novels I have read.

Excerpt

‘Why?’ Brunetti asked.

Again, Perulli uncrossed his legs, but this time he leaned forward, towards Brunetti, the forefinger of his right hand jabbing the space between them. ‘Because he’s a sanctimonious bastard, always talking about fraud and dishonesty and…’ Here Perulli’s voice changed, deepening and dragging out the final syllables of words in a way Brunetti realised was very much like Morro’s. ‘Our responsibility to the citizen,’ he went on, the imitation suddenly becoming a sarcastic exaggeration. ‘We can’t continue to treat our offices, this Parliament, as though it were a trough and we a heard of pigs,’ Perulli intoned. It was clear to Brunetti that he was again quoting Morro.

Brunetti thought the other man would go on: Augusto had never known when a joke had gone on long enough. But Perulli surprised him by lapsing into silence, though he couldn’t resist the temptation to goad Brunetti by saying, ‘If he’s done something, it’s no surprise to me: he is no different to any one of us’.

‘With your front trotters in the trough?’ Brunetti asked mildly.

He might just as well have slapped the other man across the face. Perulli lurched forward, his right hand aiming for Brunetti’s throat, but he had forgotten the low table between them. It caught Perulli just below the knees and sent him sprawling across and then beyond it.

Uniform Justice by Donna Leon