If you have never read one of Donna Leon’s marvelous Guido Brunetti mysteries, don’t let the unfamiliar locale and culture --- Venice --- or the fact that the newly published TRACE ELEMENTS is the 29th installment in the series dissuade you. These novels are written so that one can pick them up in any order at any time without missing a beat. As for the culture of Venice, there are elements of it that remain a mystery to all, including the Venetians themselves. Commissario Brunetti of the Venetian police is more an observer than an interpreter, which is just perfect for this long-running, character-driven series that never fails to winningly entertain.

As with most of these books, TRACE ELEMENTS includes a strong primary plotline anchored by an intriguing mystery as well as a secondary problem, the presentation of which constitutes an interlude. Let’s discuss the latter first. The number of pickpockets in Venice are skyrocketing for reasons that are not entirely known to Brunetti. He is not tasked with discovering why, though he figures it out. He is merely instructed to deal with the issue and make it go away for a few days. This he does, and along the way readers get an idea of how law enforcement, politics and the news media interact in Venice.

"Leon is incapable of writing badly and is a subtle, nuanced storyteller of the first order. TRACE ELEMENTS continues her wondrous string of memorable police procedurals, all of which are keepers."

The primary mystery here takes longer to resolve. It begins when Brunetti receives a call from a physician at a local hospice advising him that a dying patient wishes to speak to the police. Brunetti and his colleague, Claudia Griffoni, respond to the bedside of Benedetta Toso, a tragic figure under any circumstances. In addition to being terminally ill, Benedetta has recently lost her husband, Vittorio Fadalto, who was killed by a hit-and-run driver while riding his motorcycle. She is only able to offer a couple of cryptic statements that appear to be related to her husband’s efforts to obtain additional money for her care at a different hospice. Brunetti and Griffoni learn that Vittorio had a fairly innocuous job working as a sample collector for a company that measures the cleanliness of the Venetian water supply.

It is the enigmatic Signora Elettra Zorzi, secretary to Brunetti’s immediate superior, Vice Questore Patta, who effectively runs the department. Her superior ability to gather research no matter where it may be is ultimately what provides Brunetti with the informational key he needs to unlock the doors that reveal the why and the who behind Vittorio’s death, among other things. All Brunetti has to decide is what to do with the information, which is not nearly as simple as it may seem.

I say this at least once a year, but it bears repeating: Anyone who has even a passing interest in mystery literature should be reading this series religiously. Leon is incapable of writing badly and is a subtle, nuanced storyteller of the first order. TRACE ELEMENTS continues her wondrous string of memorable police procedurals, all of which are keepers.