Nameless Serenade

Description

That Autumn it seemed the rain in Naples would never stop, and Commissario Ricciardi found himself having to face not only a homicide but long-buried feelings that have grown thick roots inside him. It's been over fifteen years since Vinnie Sannino left on a ship for America without telling anyone. There Vinnie found fame, success, and wealth as a boxer, becoming the middleweight champion of the world. But that all came to a terrifying halt when his last opponent died in the ring and Vinnie lost his desire to fight. Now, he's back in Italy in search of the woman he left behind, Cettina, the love of his life. But Cettina has moved on. She's now a married woman. Or, she was until recently. Her husband, a wealthy businessman, has been found murdered. There's no murder weapon to speak of. He was killed with a single blow to the head, not unlike the blow that felled Vinnie's opponent in the ring on that fateful night in America. PRAISE FOR THE COMMISSARIO RICCIARDI MYSTERIES "A superb historical series."-The New York Times "Rich and strange."-Barry Forshaw in the FT "Fascinating mix of Christie-like whodunit and spooky thriller set in 1931 Naples."-Shots Magazine "The construction of Glass Souls is remarkable... The powerful rhythm with which the plot develops will surprise readers at every turn."-La Repubblica

Maurizio de Giovanni's Commissario Ricciardi books are bestsellers across Europe, having sold well over one million copies. He is also the author of the contemporary Neapolitan thriller, The Crocodile (Europa, 2013, Abacus, 2013), and the contemporary Neapolitan series, The Bastards of Pizzofalcone. He lives in Naples with his family. Antony Shugaar is the author of I Lie for a Living and Latitude Zero: Tales of the Equator. For Europa Editions he has translated among others novels by Massimo Carlotto, Stefano Benni, Domenico Starnone, and Carmine Abate.

Praise for Maurizio de Giovanni's Commissario Ricciardi series "Naples in the early 1930s is the setting for Maurizio de Giovanni's "Nameless Serenade" (World Noir, 397 pages, $18), a series book (translated impressively from the Italian by Antony Shugaar) whose intense opening chapters approach the operatic. [...] These romantic, suspenseful and political strains interweave and resolve in superbly artful fashion." --Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal "Love, longing, and loss suffuse [Glass Souls], de Giovanni's elegiac, autumnal eighth Commissario Ricciardi mystery." --Publishers Weekly "This is a wonderful series, and I highly recommend it to mystery lovers, as well as historical noir." --Pulp Den "Reading a novel by Maurizio de Giovanni is like stepping into a Vittorio De Sica movie." --The New York Times "De Giovanni has created one of the most interesting and well-drawn detectives in fiction." --The Daily Beast