Brunetti is described by Leon in her first novel, Death at La Fenice, as "a surprisingly neat man, tie carefully knotted, hair shorter than was the fashion; even his ears lay close to his head, as if reluctant to call attention to themselves.
He is well-educated (with the title dottore), having read classics at university,[Note 2] and speaks English well, from working in the USA for a period.
[Note 3] He is by turns philosophical, intelligent, and compassionate, but also pragmatic, with "native skills of subterfuge, trickery and deceit".
[1] Arminta Wallace of the Irish Times has suggested that Brunetti is the antithesis of a crime-fiction stereotype; unlike the typical “shambolic, hard-drinking, over-worked policeman”, he is “presentable and well-read.
[2] Brunetti is assisted by a Detective Sergeant (later Inspector), Lorenzo Vianello, and by the station secretary, Elettra Zorzi, though he has a difficult relationship with his superior, Vice-Questore Giuseppe Patta.