Donna Leon has been crafting her wondrous Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery series for almost three decades. Even now, at this late date, a reader who is new to the series can start anywhere and pretty much be up to snuff with Commissario Brunetti, his family, co-workers, and the highs and lows of Venice, his lifelong home. The books are character studies, triptychs and psychological dissertations, all wrapped around the heart of a mystery. Brunetti paces rather than jogs through his investigation, even as he bobs and weaves past the occasional obstinate superior, but always gets where he is going.

That brings us to THE WATERS OF ETERNAL YOUTH, which is not only Leon’s 25th installment in her long-running series and one of the best, but also potentially one of 2016’s standout novels. As will be made evident in a moment, the title here is perfect, understated but tragically evocative of the subject matter within. The waters that are referenced are those of the canals of Venice, and they are ironically applied to a young woman named Manuela. Brunetti enters her tragic orbit when he is introduced to her grandmother, the Contessa Demetriana, a dear friend of his mother-in-law.

...potentially one of 2016’s standout novels.... THE WATERS OF ETERNAL YOUTH has the most satisfying ending of any book I’ve read in recent memory."

Some 15 years prior to the events of the novel, Manuela nearly drowned in the canal waters and was saved only by the intercession of a man who happened by. Her savior, a practicing alcoholic, reported that Manuela had been attacked and pushed into the canal but could not identify her assailant. Although she survived her ordeal, Manuela was left with the functioning mind of a seven-year-old. Now she is 30, and her grandmother, in the twilight of her life, wants to know the truth about what occurred that fateful night.

Brunetti’s dilemma isn’t so much that the matter is a cold case as it is that it may not be a case at all. The only known witness was extremely unreliable, and even if a criminal act occurred, the statute of limitations on any crime has long since passed. Still, Brunetti is haunted by the aftermath of the incident, accident or otherwise, and begins his investigation. He seems a bit stuck until some long-hidden evidence, revealed from a somewhat unexpected source, indicates that Manuela may have been the victim of an assault after all. Brunetti is steadfast in his pursuit of evidence, even as he knows that the doer, if still alive, may never be brought to trial. However, an unexpected act occurs that gives him the opportunity to solve the case and obtain justice of a sort for one who had the promise of her life’s potential abruptly taken from her by a careless, selfish and badly intended act.

I don’t think I’m giving anything away here when I say that THE WATERS OF ETERNAL YOUTH has the most satisfying ending of any book I’ve read in recent memory. Another very short episode in the last chapter already had me choked up, and then...well, you are going to have to read this amazing novel for yourself, and skipping ahead to the end will do you no good. You won’t get it unless you read the book all the way from the beginning, but you’ll be glad you did.