Golden Egg by Donna Leon

The Publishers Weekly review of this book concludes this way:  "Appreciative of feminine charms, the deeply uxorious Brunetti amply displays the keen intelligence and wry humor that has endeared this series to so many."

I always feel suspicious whenver I see the word uxorious: it reminds me of when Jonathan Franzen didn't want to be named an Oprah author because he believed men would not buy his book.

By the way, the Merriam-Webster.com definition of uxorious is:  having or showing an excessive or submissive fondness for one's wife.

Can't agree with Publishers Weekly's assessment:  I'd say Commissario Guido Brunetti is smart.

When his wife calls him at work to tell him some sad news, that the disabled man who worked at their neighborhood cleaners has died and that she feels bad because she doesn't know how to help or to honor this man's life, he clearly feels that she is being oversensitive.  But he is careful to hear her out, to sound saddened as well, and to call her a pet name as he ends the phone conversation.

It is his wife Paola's concern for the dead man, David Cavanella, that starts in motion Commisario Brunetti's investigation of what appears at first to be an accidental death.  The investigation is difficult:  the dead man's mother shuts her door in Brunetti's face.  He figures a roundabout direction is the best way to investigate further:  the neighbors aren't talking either, and he wonders if his colleague Vianello's wife would be the right kind of person winkle some truth out of the neighbors. But Vianello, somewhat to Brunetti's surprise, turns him down.  Eventually, he turns to his Neapolitan colleague, Griffoni, and also has seeks the help of another colleague, the redoubtable Elettra, his superior's well-informed secretary and a longtime ally.  And, he learns a lot about all of his colleagues, as they struggle over their abilities to manipulate suspects and the tug of loyalties to family and work that sometimes conflict.

The theme, to me, is surprising:  it's about bad, I mean really bad parenting.  Guido and Paola make a strong and convenient contrast.  It's also about the joys of language, perhaps not surprising for an author (and her audience). As wholesome and happy and Guido's family seems, the dark mystery he unravels is very dark indeed.