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.

(Image by Brandon Wallace from Pixabay)

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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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(Picture by Liliy2025 from Pixabay)

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Death in a Strange Country

A Commissario Brunetti mystery by Donna Leon
 

Brunetti investigates the death of a young American soldier whose body has been found floating in a Venetian canal in this second book of the series.

His enquiries take him out to the American military base near Vicenza where he is intrigued by the conversations he has with the young man’s commanding officer, an attractive female doctor who, he feels, is hiding something.

At the same time, Brunetti becomes involved in enquiries following the theft of valuable paintings from a palazzo on the Grand Canal owned by a wealthy businessman from Milan.

His superior officer, Vice-Questore Patta, wants to explain away the death of the American soldier as a robbery gone wrong and treat the burglary at the palazzo at face value.

But Brunetti is not satisfied with these convenient explanations. He demonstrates his passion for uncovering the truth and striving to achieve justice for the victims of crime by pursuing the investigations in his own time and at considerable risk to himself.

We learn more about the aristocratic background of his wife, Paola, an opinionated university lecturer, and the powerful connections of his father-in-law, Count Orazio Falier, in this novel.

We also see the respect and trust Brunetti inspires in his fellow police officers and even in the relatives of criminals.

Brunetti bravely sticks to his task, despite the corruption at the highest level going on behind the scenes, until he finally learns the truth about the American’s death and the burglary at the palazzo.

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Death of a Dutchman

A Marshal Guarnaccia mystery

In the heat of the summer in Florence, the Marshal embarks on a single-handed mission to bring a person to justice for murder.

He had been called out to investigate after an old lady heard suspicious noises coming from a neighbouring apartment and after gaining entrance he had discovered a dying man.

The victim was a young Dutch jeweller who occasionally used the apartment when he visited Florence on business. Although the officers called in to investigate the death come to the conclusion that he has committed suicide, the Marshal has misgivings.

He makes a few unofficial enquiries of his own and eventually has a suspect in his sights. Unable to intervene officially, and conscious that the murderer will get away with it if he doesn’t do anything, the Marshal embarks on an exhausting pursuit of his quarry throughout the city, hoping to uncover the proof that he needs.

It is an intriguing and absorbing story revealing Magdalen Nabb’s detailed knowledge of Florence. It should come as no surprise that the novelist Georges Simenon referred to Death of a Dutchman as ‘a masterpiece’. 

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(Florence picture by Makalu from Pixabay)

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Death in August

The first Inspector Bordelli mystery by Marco Vichi

Florence during the summer of 1963 is the setting for this evocative story featuring the weary, disillusioned and constantly nostalgic, Inspector Bordelli.

The Commissario is one of the few policemen left working in the heat of the city, which has been deserted by the residents in favour of the more refreshing atmosphere at the coast or in the hills.

Bordelli has to lead an inquiry into the death of a wealthy woman living in a hilltop villa and is helped by a young Sardinian officer who turns out to be the son of one of his former wartime comrades. 

They soon realise that the lady was murdered and start to suspect members of her family were involved.

But proving what actually happened isn’t easy and Bordelli’s frustration is made worse by the heat, the mosquitoes, his constant and vivid memories of combat with the Germans and his hankering for the cigarettes he knows are so bad for him.

Things are made more bearable for him by his kind and loyal friends. Many of them are former criminals and prostitutes and one of them is a brilliant and inventive cook.

Summer in Italy in the 1960s is brought alive by this entertaining novel by Marco Vichi, originally published in Italian as Il Commissario Bordelli and then translated into English by Stephen Sartarelli.

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A Funeral of Gondolas

An Achille Peroni story by Timothy Holme

Peroni has been posted to Venice and is living alone in an apartment bemoaning the lack of serious crime in la Serenissima at the beginning of this book.

But it is not long before the handsome Naples-born Commissario, who has been dubbed the Rudolf Valentino of the Italian police force by the media, finds himself investigating the murder of a lawyer and becoming attracted to a girl from an ancient and noble Venetian family.

Timothy Holme’s entertaining writing style carries the reader along the narrow calle and canals of Venice with Peroni, as he tries to solve an intriguing puzzle involving gondolieri preparing for the annual Regatta and the theft of a priceless manuscript by Venetian playwright Carlo Goldoni.

Peroni’s bravery and intuitive detective skills finally help him to arrive at the truth and lead him out to a dramatic denouement on an island in the lagoon.

A Funeral of Gondolas is a gripping story told by the writer with skill and plenty of humour.

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(Image by Anja🤗#helpinghands #solidarity#stays healthy🙏 from Pixabay)

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Vendetta

An Aurelio Zen mystery by Michael Dibdin
 

Zen is sent from Rome to investigate a case in Sardinia in this second novel of the series.

It is not the picture postcard Sardinia popular with tourists that awaits him but an inhospitable, desolate, deprived landscape where there is no one to help him when his own life is at risk.

Zen has been sent to look into the violent killings of a rich businessman and his house guests staying in a remote villa on the island.

As well as the suspects in the case and the unfriendly locals, he also has to contend with his enemies within Criminalpol, sinister figures from the murky world of politics, criminals from his past cases and the jealous husband of a woman he has become involved with.

We learn more about the character of the detective from Venice, whom Dibdin describes as having prominent bones in his face and a slight tautness of the skin, especially around the eyes, which gives him a slightly exotic air probably due to Slav or Semitic blood in his family’s past.

This is the face that has made Zen’s reputation as an interrogator. ‘Where other policemen confronted criminals, using the carrot or the stick, according to the situation, Zen’s subjects found themselves shut up with a man who barely seemed to exist, yet who mirrored back to them the innermost secrets of their hearts. They read their every fleeting emotion accurately imaged on those scrupulously blank features, and knew that they were lost.’

Zen needs all his intuition, resourcefulness and courage to help him solve this case and get back from Sardinia alive.

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