First Castagnetti novel by Tobias Jones
Set in Parma in northern Italy, this novel introduces us to
a private detective called Castagnetti, known to his friends as Casta.
Written in the first person, the book takes us around Parma in Emilia-Romagna
as Castagnetti conducts an investigation on behalf of a notary to verify that a
missing person is actually dead.
Castagnetti is a loner and has had a hard life and he
doesn’t do things by the book, but once he starts on an investigation he has to
see it through however much opposition he runs into. At one stage in the novel
he is given a severe beating for crossing swords with the wrong person.
As the case progresses it becomes more important for Castagnetti
to get justice for the missing person than to just verify his death so that an
estate can be settled. Before long he is reopening wounds and exposing family
secrets as he moves around a city that for most of the time is covered with a blanket
of fog.
Once he has started, there is no stopping Castagnetti until he has
got some kind of justice for the victim.
(Picture of Parma by DEZALB from Pixabay)