Title:	So Shall You Reap
	Author:	Donna Leon
	Published:	March 14, 2023, Atlantic Monthly Press
	No. of Pages:	267
	Cover Price:	$28.00 Hardcover, $9.24 Kindle

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Fans of Guido Brunetti, et al, will be disappponted in the 32nd installment of the popular series, So Shall You Reap It is, unfortunately, boring, and doesn’t generate the interest that most of the novels in the series does. Brunetti is called late at night to a citizen sighting of a body in the canal, which turns out to be the body of a Sri Lankan man who Brunetti saw the day before when he inquired about whether a property was for sale. As he is investigating the murder, he searches the garden house of the deceased and finds an interesting scrapbook full of pamphlets and leftist propaganda from many years ago. Some of the information is connected to the unsolved murder of a university professor, and as he uncovers clues, he finds that the new murder and the old are possibly connected.

While Leon captures the ambiance of Venice and the laid-back lifestyle of Brunetti, the story doesn’t grab like the previous novels. It is lackluster and it seems that Leon is losing steam. Brunetti isn’t as well-developed in this novel, and those who haven’t read the previous novels will find that he doesn’t have the drive or ambition he has exhibited previously. There are dozens of references to ancient writers as Brunetti has always been interested in, but even for a literature major, the references seem flat, just like this novel.

This is not one of Leon’s best, and fans will wonder if Leon is losing steam. There is nothing mysterious, thrilling, or suspenseful about this novel. Paola’s Italian dishes still sound wonderful and it would be much more fun to find a cookbook with her recipes for the dishes that she feeds her family. This one is disappointing.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.