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Crime fiction packed with Italian flavour, Death in August is the first Inspector Bordelli mystery set in 1960s’ Florence – perfect for fans of Andrea Camilleri or Donna Leon.

Florence, summer 1963. Inspector Bordelli is one of the few policemen left in the deserted city. He spends his days on routine work, and his nights tormented by the heat and mosquitoes.

Suddenly one night, a telephone call gives him a new sense of purpose: the suspected death of a wealthy Signora. Bordelli rushes to her hilltop villa, and picks the locks. The old woman is lying on her bed – apparently killed by an asthma attack, though her medicine has been left untouched.

With the help of his young protégé, the victim’s eccentric brother, and a semi-retired petty thief, the inspector begins a murder investigation. Each suspect has a solid alibi, but there is something that doesn’t quite add up . . .

April 1964, but spring hasn’t quite sprung. The bad weather seems suited to nothing but bad news. And bad news is coming to the police station.

First, Bordelli’s friend Casimiro, who 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 little girl is found murdered, with the same macabre signature.

And meanwhile Casimiro has disappeared without a trace.

The 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.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE CRIME WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL DAGGER 2013.

Florence, 1965. A man is found murdered, a pair of scissors stuck through his throat. Only one thing is known about him – he was a loan shark, who ruined and blackmailed the vulnerable men and women who would come to him for help.

Inspector Bordelli prepares to launch a murder investigation. But the case will be a tough one for him, arousing mixed emotions: the desire for justice conflicting with a deep hostility for the victim. And he is missing his young police sidekick, Piras, who is convalescing at his parents’ home in Sardinia.

But Piras hasn’t been recuperating for long before he too has a mysterious death to deal with . . .

Florence, October 1966. The rain is never-ending. When a young boy vanishes on his way home from school the police fear the worst, and Inspector Bordelli begins an increasingly desperate investigation.

Then the flood hits. During the night of 4th November the swollen River Arno, already lapping the arches of the Ponte Vecchio, breaks its banks and overwhelms the city. Streets become rushing torrents, the force of the water sweeping away cars and trees, doors, shutters and anything else in its wake.

In the aftermath of this unimaginable tragedy the mystery of the child’s disappearance seems destined to go unsolved. But obstinate as ever, Bordelli is not prepared to give up.

Longlisted for the CWA International Dagger 2017.

Spring, 1967. The trail of tragedy and destruction that followed the previous winter’s flood seems to have died down; Florence is beginning to recover. But Inspector Bordelli does not feel the same sense of relief – he has not had a moment’s peace since his investigation of a young boy’s murder went disastrously wrong.

Unsettled and embittered, Bordelli resigns from the force and leaves the city. He could not continue to work as a policeman while the perpetrators of such a terrible crime were still at large.

Now, in the solitude of his new home in the Tuscan hills, he spends his days cooking, going for long walks and learning to grow his own vegetables. But the thought of that case – of justice not served – is constantly with him. Until fate, in which he has never believed, unexpectedly offers him the chance of retribution . . .

A family cloaked in secrets. A beguiling woman. A unique setting. Inspector Bordelli is back to solve one of the most difficult cases of his entire career in the sixth book in this atmospheric crime noir series – perfect for fans of Andrea Camilleri.

Florence, 1967. It is winter, and one year has passed since the historic and devastating flood of the Arno, though the memories of that day still linger with the stains on the city walls.

The anniversary of the flood brings with it a new case for Inspector Bordelli, who is weighed down with remorse for having taken justice into his own hands, and yearning for Eleonora, the woman he’s lost, when the mystery opens. A local wealthy industrialist – fiercely loved and respected by everyone he knew – has been found murdered in his grand villa in the Fiesole hills, and the killer has left no trace.

With no obvious leads to follow, Bordelli is patiently retracing the victim’s last days when he encounters an old friend from the war. Inviting the frail man into his home with the aim of restoring him to strength with good food and wine, Bordelli is yet to realise that this very friend will lead him ever closer to the secrets at the heart of the mystery – starting with a mysterious woman . . .