Death and the Olive Grove

Book excerpt: “Filled with interesting character sketches and the dirt of Italian street life . . . a haunting and troubling crime story” from the author of Death in August (Crime Time UK). It is April of 1964, and the cruelest month is breeding bad weather and worse news. And plenty of disturbing news is coming to Florence detective Inspector Bordelli. Bordelli’s friend, Casimiro, insists he’s discovered the body of a man in a field above Fiesole. Bordelli races to the scene, but doesn’t find any sign of a corpse. Only a couple of days later, a little girl is found at Villa Ventaglio. She has been strangled, and there is a horrible bite mark on her belly. Then another young girl is found murdered, with the same macabre signature. And meanwhile, Casimiro has disappeared without a trace. This new investigation marks the start of one of the darkest periods of Bordelli’s life: a nightmare without end, as black as the sky above Florence.