"Italian writers are justifiably growing in popularity here: Marco Vichi deserves to be among them . . . The character, Bordelli, is stubborn, womanless, cynical and impatient, but strangely appealing." - Marcel Berlins, The Times.
Death And The Olive Grove (2012) is the second book in the Inspector Bordelli Novel series set in post-war Florence in the mid-1960s. I highly recommend this nostalgic and sometimes amusing book filled with smatterings of war stories which, to my delight, includes a hearty Italian pork chop recipe apparently from the author's father - you wouldn't want to miss it! Death in Sardinia, the third in the series, will become available in the English language in July 2012. This series is translated from the Italian into the English by Stephen Sartarelli.
From the paperback: April 1964. A grey, damp sky hangs over Florence, depressing weather that seems suited to nothing but bad news. And bad news is coming to the police station.
First, Inspector Bordelli's friend Casimiro, who insists he's just found the body of a man in an olive grove above Fiesole. Bordelli races to the scene, but finds no sign of a corpse.
Only a couple of days later, a little girl is discovered strangled, a horrible bite mark on her belly. Then another girl is found murdered, with the same macabre signature.
And Casimiro has disappeared without a trace.
About the author: Marco Vichi was born in Florence in 1957. The author of twelve novels and two collections of short stories, he has also edited crime anthologies, written screenplays, music lyrics and for radio, written for Italian newspapers and magazines, and collaborated on and directed various projects for humanitarian causes. There are five novels and two short stories featuring Inspector Bordelli. The fourth novel, Death in Florence (available in the UK in 2013) won the Scerbanenco, Rieti, Camaiore and Azzeccagarbugli prices in Italy. Marco Vichi lives in the Chianti region of Tuscany. You can find out more at www.marcovichi.it
About the translator: Stephen Sartarelli is an award-winning translator. He is also the author of three books of poetry. He lives in France.
Rating: 5/5
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