Totally enjoyed this intelligent mystery, the first I’ve read of this series. What did I love? The excellent characters (especially Com Brunetti), the witty back-and-forth between Brunetti and his coworkers, the setting in Venice, the literary quotes. All in all, an entertaining, fun read.

A leisurely-paced police procedural with no sense of urgency. Given that this is the 21st book in the series, character development is sparse but the mystery is lackluster as well. The villain is obvious and the investigative procedure is entirely uninteresting. While the author conveys a sense of Venice, it's not a particularly strong or compelling one. The main character is appealing, just not terribly distinctive.

Quite entertaining and well tied together. Mostly balanced mystery, family, and issue (meat processing).

Animal Profits
Review of the Penguin paperback edition (2013) of the Atlantic Monthly Press hardcover original (2012)

I am continuing to enjoy the Brunetti series, especially for the Venice atmosphere created by writer Donna Leon, who lived in the city for 30 years until retiring recently to a small village in Switzerland. I am trying to read them in chronological order as best as I can source them, but I chanced on a copy of Beastly Things (Brunetti #21) and couldn't resist it.

Beastly Things finds Brunetti investigating the murder of a seemingly well-respected animal veterinarian whose body is found in the Venice canals. I don't know if Donna Leon overdid that as a body site, but I've now read 2 books in succession, after Brunetti #2, where it was also used. Brunetti discovers that the veterinarian moonlighted at a slaughterhouse in order to observe and maintain animal safety protocols. The actions of various characters at the abattoir provoke Brunetti's suspicions and the game is afoot!


Actor Michael Degen as Vice-Questore Patta and actor Walter Kreye as Maurizio de Rivera, with a view of Santa Maria della Salute (Saint Mary of Health), Venice, Italy in the background in a film still from the German television adaptation of "Beastly Things" (2015). Image sourced from IMDB.

Trivia and Links
There is a really fascinating interview with author Donna Leon at ItalianMysteries.Com even if it was done 18 years ago. She discusses all sorts of background to the books and characters and also gives the reason that she won't allow the books to be translated into Italian (and it wasn't because she feared criticism by her neighbours in Venice).

Coincidentally Beastly Things, as the 21st Brunetti book, was filmed as the 21st episode "Tierische Profite" (Animal Profits) (2015) of the German language TV series (2000-2019) based on the Donna Leon / Commissario Brunetti series. The series was otherwise not filmed in the order of the books. That entire episode (German language, but you can turn on auto-generated English subtitles) is available on YouTube here.

An English language summary of the German language Commissario Brunetti TV series is available at Fictional Cities (Spoilers Obviously). As explained in the above interview, the TV-series was a German production as the books took off in popularity the most in the German speaking countries of Europe as Leon's publishing agent was Swiss-German and knew that market the best.

The body pulled from the canal was a man with an unusual medical condition that made his physical appearance sufficiently memorable for Commissario Guido Brunetti to feel he knew the man from... someplace. Eventually, he remembered him as an observer at a farmers' strike where Brunetti had assisted. The dead man turned out to be a veterinarian. Who would kill a veterinarian, and why?
As Brunetti and Inspector Vianello work the case, Signorina Elletra, their resident computer expert, uncovers many interesting details about the dead man's side job--as the health inspector at a slaughterhouse. And as the detectives dig deeper, they learn the man had been worried about something at this job. Can they find the thread that will lead to the killer, without incurring the wrath of powerful people connected to the slaughterhouse?
This volume prods ever so gently at the power structures in an increasingly corrupt nation, where so many citizens from all walks of life routinely find ways around the laws and regulations, and shrug away ethical and moral considerations. It lacks the more intimate scenes of Brunetti's family life that make this series so quietly entertaining, but I enjoyed Brunetti's final interrogations of the suspects. Most of the books in this series can be read as stand-alone volumes.

I was surprised that I didn't like it more. I had the plot figured out as soon as I found out what the dead man did for a living. From there on it was a tedious wait for the characters to figure it out too.

Adored it-know her characters so well it is like slipping into a comfortable pair of slippers. She always provides twists and turns, and in this case, social commentary. The stories flow nicely with beautiful writing.

Listened to this while heading to the beach. Disturbing slaughterhouse scenes. Greed drives. Murder. Still love the descriptions of family life

As always, a clever and humane story connecting Brunetti's work and inner lives to the greater human story. The ending chapter seemed notably touching.

What a good book....and the last chapter was so touching. I got choked up!!