Uniform justice / Donna Leon.

Mystery fans who have not yet discovered Leon's elegant Venetian puzzles starring the canny but scrupulously honest police commissario Guido Brunetti are in for a special treat. An American who has lived in Venice for more than 20 years, Leon offers intimate, behind-the-scenes portraits of an ancient city that few tourists ever see while presenting intricate, intelligent mysteries that address facets of contemporary Italian life: the opera (Death at La Fenice), the Church (The Death of Faith), and now the military. When Brunetti is called to investigate the hanging death of a young cadet at an exclusive military academy, he meets a wall of silence from the authorities, who just want to see the case closed quickly as a "suicide." Already contemptuous of a corrupt system that he sees as no different from the Mafia except "that some wore easily recognized uniforms while the other leaned toward Armani and Brioni," Brunetti turns to the boy's grieving but uncooperative parents for help. Could the father's resignation as one of the few honest politicians from the Italian parliament have something to do with the boy's death? Brunetti doggedly pursues the case even though he realizes that in the end justice is not always dispensed uniformly.