Big Italy
Timothy Williams
ISBN: 9781616955786
Published: February, 2015
Pricing
Paperback $14.95
More books by Timothy Williams
Description
Northern Italy, 1993: After what seems like several lifetimes as a policeman in the Questura, Commissario Trotti is ready for retirement. Soon, he’ll be able to fulfill his dream of moving to the countryside villa he co-owns with his cousin, where his daily business will be tending to goats and chickens.
But despite Trotti’s stubbo...
Northern Italy, 1993: After what seems like several lifetimes as a policeman in the Questura, Commissario Trotti is ready for retirement. Soon, he’ll be able to fulfill his dream of moving to the countryside villa he co-owns with his cousin, where his daily business will be tending to goats and chickens.
But despite Trotti’s stubbornly old-fashioned investigative methods and his disregard for social niceties, there are several people trying to talk him out of retirement. Trotti’s boss offers him a golden opportunity as head of the Questura’s new child abuse division.
Meanwhile, Fabrizio Bassi, a reckless, womanizing private detective who worked under Trotti years ago before being kicked off the force, approaches him for help. Bassi has been investigating the death of a murdered doctor, and he has a conspiracy theory that extends to the highest reaches of government. Trotti declines, annoyed by the request. But when Bassi is found in a ditch with a bullet in his head, Trotti decides to take on one last murder case after all.
Media
“Subtle, tense and gripping, Big Italy explores the corruption that feeds on Italian life, from the top to the bottom of the pile. The dialogue is oblique and spare, the breakdowns in communication reflecting the corrosion of relationships between vivid and credibly drawn characters. ”
—Val McDermid, Manchester Evening News
“Splendidly realised in four previous novels, Timothy Williams’s morose Italian [Commissario Trotti] is contemplating retirement . . . Williams’s pared-down descriptions and staccato dialogue are a constant pleasure. ”
—Financial Times
“Commissario Trotti is an inspired creation. ”
—Sunday Times
“Wake up and smell the grappa. Big Italy is a chilling education, a scalpel-sharp exploration of Italy’s body politic. Timothy Williams knows the ABC of corruption—Andreotti, Berlusconi, Craxi—and is a convincing and compelling voice. ”