The Neapolitan Streak

The first Achille Peroni story by Timothy Holme

Considering that this novel set in Verona deals with kidnapping, violent death and the Red Brigade, it is remarkably good fun to read.

Timothy Holme presents his detective, the Neapolitan Commissario Achille Peroni, in a light-hearted way, but we soon see how his archetypal southern characteristics help him get to the truth in the case he has been given.

We quickly learn that Peroni is handsome and has been dubbed by the media as the Rudolf Valentino of the Italian police. He drives a red Alfa Romeo and definitely has an eye for the ladies, but he is also a fervent believer in the powers of San Gennaro, the patron saint of Naples, a city which he misses terribly.

There are times when the Commissario has to fight the Neapolitan within himself to get Peroni to make the right choices. He is not really a brave character but sometimes feels he has to stick his head above the parapet in order to live up to his media reputation.

He enjoys the support and Neapolitan cooking of his sister Assunta, who along with her husband and two children often gives him valuable insights to help him uncover the truth.

Timothy Holme’s first book featuring Commissario Peroni is as entertaining as it is intriguing.

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(Image by Gianni Crestani from Pixabay)

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Ratking

The first Aurelio Zen novel by Michael Dibdin

Police Commissioner Aurelio Zen is a Venetian living and working in Rome and he constantly feels like an outsider.

But the problem for Michael Dibdin’s fictional detective is not just being away from the city of his birth but because he has been shunted into an administrative role as a result of something that has happened in his past.

In Ratking, the first of Dibdin’s novels to feature Zen, the Commissioner is brought out of the shadows and sent to Perugia to investigate the kidnapping of a rich businessman. Political pressure has been brought to bear on the Polizia dello Stato to achieve some progress in the case and they are forced to put Zen back into active service because there is literally no one else to send.

Dibdin cleverly reveals the character of his detective as the reader sees the techniques he employs to learn about the complex personalities of the family of the kidnapped businessman.

Kidnapping cases were Zen’s speciality and he proves more than a match for the various people who try to thwart him in his work.

We also learn more about the secret in his past which has caused him to be sidelined by his superiors.

Zen finds Perugia, the main city of Umbria, to be a strange and dangerous place, but he sticks to his task of uncovering the truth and allowing justice to prevail. By the end of the book we find out why his career was abruptly halted. But it comes as no surprise to find that he was blameless in the affair because he has already earned our respect and we find ourselves looking forward to seeing him in action again.

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