Brunetti learns that the Dottor obtained his son through questionable methods and before long he has stumbled onto a very clever, though illegal, adoption ring.  The ring is so sophisticated that is parallels and eventually intersects another case that involves other scams involving pharmacists and more doctors. 

The very sad part about all this, Brunetti quickly learns, is that the recovered infants and toddlers are rarely reunited with their birth parents, but are rather turned over to social services where they become wards of the state instead of staying with the families who love them, a moral dilemma that weighs heavily on Brunetti and his wife:  while the babies were obtained illegally, it seems unfair to now place them in a system for unwanted, orphaned children when there is a loving family who wants to raise them and give them a home.  

A very intelligent mystery, there is very little physical violence done to anyone (other than the Dottor in the original scene);  much of the tension comes from investigating the adoption ring, the connections to the pharmacists and falsified appointments, and what is to become of these twice stolen children. After a long career, Brunetti has become a dependable investigator who is very thoughtful and interested in seeing justice done, though tempered with common sense when possible. 

Brunetti’s wife Paola supports him in his efforts and sympathizes with some of the tough choices this case brings up.  The neighborhood Brunetti and his wife live and work in is depicted well, Paola even talks about how glad she is to live in the Veneto and would rather live there than anywhere else in the world. 

While not action-packed, Suffer the Little Children is a thoughtful mystery that raises many important moral issues that are dealt with gracefully, paying heed to both the state and man’s law as well as to the laws of human nature and laws of right and wrong.                                                                                      

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry