When in Rome

A Roderick Alleyn mystery

 

By Ngaio Marsh (1899 – 1982)

A brilliant portrait of Rome during the swinging sixties is painted by Dame Ngaio Marsh in this novel, which was first published in 1970.

The handsome and astute Superintendent Alleyn is in Rome ‘incognito’, trying to gather information about the international drugs trade.

Posing as a tourist, he joins a very select guided tour for the day to visit a church and enjoy a picnic at the Palatine Hill.

The tour organiser, or ‘cicerone’ as he is referred to in the book, mysteriously disappears while escorting the wealthy and aristocratic members of the party inside the Basilica of San Tommaso in Pallaria. Alleyn, working with the Italian Polizia, eventually discovers a body in the Basilica.

Much of the action takes place inside the church, which the author describes in great detail, showing a fine appreciation of place. And, while enjoying the many excellent descriptions of the eternal city, the reader is kept guessing, with twists and turns of the plot right until the end of the book, about the identity of the murderer.

New Zealand-born Ngaio Marsh wrote 32 novels featuring Roderick Alleyn, a gentleman detective who worked for the Metropolitan Police in London. They were published between 1934 and 1982. Dame Ngaio Marsh has been ranked as one of the four Queens of Crime of the 20th century, alongside Agatha Christie, Dorothy L Sayers and Margery Allingham.

When in Rome is currently available in paperback as part of The Ngaio Marsh Collection Book 9 (Harper), alongside Clutch of Constables and Tied Up in Tinsel, and as an eBook.  It is due to be re-released as a paperback in its own right by Felony and Mayhem in September.

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Also available as part of The Ngaio March Collection, Book 9, available from 

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The Big Story

By Morris West 

Piazza Sant'Antonino in Sorrento, where the
action in Morris West's story takes place

This book by bestselling Australian novelist and playwright Morris West is not a conventional detective story but the setting is Sorrento in southern Italy and there is a ‘whodunnit’ element to the plot.

Written in 1957, the novel features as its main protagonist an American journalist, Richard Ashley, who has been working on an exposure of graft in Italy's rich and powerful ruling clique that he hopes will make headlines all over the world.

At the centre of the corruption is the rich and powerful Vittorio, Duke of Orgagna and an added complication is that Ashley once had an affair with his wife, Cosima, and deep down he is still in love with her.

The Duke has to prevent Ashley’s story from being published as it would ruin his political ambitions and he arranges for the journalist to be framed for murder.

The mystery for the reader is who actually committed the murder and who will emerge the winner at the end, the journalist or the Duke.

For those who love Sorrento the book - later retitled as The Crooked Road and made into a film starring Stewart Granger - is interesting as it depicts the glamour of the resort 60 years ago when it was popular with the rich and famous.

And all credit to Morris West, the story reaches a tense climax with an unexpected twist at the end.

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The Anonymous Venetian

A Commissario Brunetti mystery by Donna Leon

When the body of a man dressed as a woman is found dead in a field in Mestre, Brunetti is called in to investigate because of summer holiday staff shortages.

Sending his family away to the cooler air of the mountains, Brunetti remains in the heat of Venice to try to identify the victim and find his killer.

His perseverance leads him to uncover an elaborate plot, seeming to involve respectable people in high places in Venetian society. But lack of proof means his superiors will not bring a case against those he believes to be guilty.

Fortunately his attention to detail in continuing to follow up on an early clue brings about the downfall of the evil people responsible for a string of killings.

This is a gripping novel that keeps the reader turning the pages right to the end.

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Death in Springtime

A Marshal Guarnaccia mystery by Magdalen Nabb

 

Magdalen Nabb's story begins in late winter in
Marshal Guarnaccia's home city of Florence

When a wealthy American student is kidnapped in Florence with one of her college friends, the Carabinieri move swiftly to try to find her before she comes to any harm.

English-speaking Lieutenant Bacci tries to win the confidence of the girl’s friend after she is released by the kidnappers and found wandering in the countryside.

And Captain Maestrangelo and a new Substitute Prosecutor organise a massive operation to search the part of the Tuscan hills where the confused girl was discovered.

But it is Marshal Guarnaccia’s enquiries on his own patch near Palazzo Pitti, the area of the city where the American girl had been staying, that yield the clues that eventually lead to the kidnappers.

Magdalen Nabb tells the story cleverly, paving the way towards an outcome that is completely unexpected.

The story begins on the first of March with snow falling in Florence, which provides a big distraction for the local people at the time the young women are kidnapped.

And Death in Springtime ends with such a surprise that it will give the reader something to think about long after they have finished the last page.

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River of Shadows

A Commissario Soneri Investigation by Valerio Varesi

The landscape of the River Po features
strongly in River of Shadows

This is a novel where the setting can truly said to be the main character in the story.

Much of the action takes place along the banks of the River Po, at a point on the waterway that is an equal distance between the cities of Cremona and Parma.

Commissario Soneri finds himself drawn to the cold, foggy landscape, where incessant rain has made the waters rise to dangerous heights. He is trying to solve a mystery concerning two brothers, now old men, who were both known to be fascists in the past. One has been found dead, apparently having fallen from a window at a hospital in Parma and the other has gone missing, believed to have been out on the river on his barge in the bad weather.

Soneri spends a lot of time musing over clues in the warmth of restaurants while he samples the local food and wine. He is also distracted by having to please his girlfriend, Angela, an unpredictable avvocatessa - lawyer - who turns up at inconvenient moments during the book.

He talks to the old people determined to live their lives and earn their living in this inhospitable landscape. He finds it is a community where people are still divided from each other by the events of the Second World War that took place in the area. He is constantly being told that the River Po both 'gives and takes' and that when the waters fall again, all will be revealed.

Despite opposition from his superiors who want him back in Parma, Soneri remains convinced that the answers lie with the river and he is determined to follow his instincts and continue investigating until he has got to the bottom of the mystery and tracked down who is responsible.

River of Shadows is a compelling story, well translated into English by Joseph Farrell, and the novel is rich in atmosphere and full of local, background detail.

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The Devil and the Dolce Vita

An Achille Peroni mystery by Timothy Holme

Commissario Achille Peroni is asked to look into the reported disappearance of a young café singer from the seaside resort of Jesolo in this third novel in the series.

His interest in the case intensifies after seeing her photograph and finding himself bewitched by her dark, mysterious eyes.

But the Commissario, who has been dubbed by the media as the Rudolf Valentino of the Italian police, finds himself drawn into a web of decadence and devil worship involving the super rich of Venice while he tries to make his enquiries about the missing girl.

His inner Neapolitan gutter kid is tempted by the dolce vita being offered to him but the heroic Commissario part of him triumphs.

He desperately wants to prove that the beautiful young singer is still alive and so he continues investigating, putting his own life in danger.

Timothy Holme again manages to combine humour with drama while telling this gripping and entertaining Peroni story.

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A Florentine Death

The first Michele Ferrara mystery by Michele Giuttari

This novel will fascinate any readers who might wish to learn about the methods or see into the minds of the Italian police.

The hero, Chief Superintendent Michele Ferrara, is the head of the Squadra Mobile in Florence.

He is the creation of a former police chief, Michele Giuttari, who headed the police in Florence between 1995 and 2003 and can therefore write with authority about murder investigations, interviewing suspects and organising armed police operations.

As well as providing an authentic account of police procedure in a multiple murder investigation, Giuttari delivers a cleverly plotted mystery that becomes increasingly more gripping as it reaches its dramatic conclusion.

Anyone who loves Florence will enjoy the setting and perhaps appreciate Giuttari’s portrayal of the beauty and the occasional darkness of everyday life in the city.

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