Set in the Italian Alps, the Rocco Schiavone mysteries bring talented Italian author, Antonio Manzini, to an American audience. The series is already an international sensation, and it’s easy to see why.
Filled with insightful observations on the hidden depths of humanity, the prose is filled with wry humor topped with a pinch of irony.
Now that the first four books are translated into English for an international audience, readers can enjoy the clever, page-turning mysteries that have delighted Italian audiences for years.
Black Run
After falling in with the wrong people, Deputy Prefect Rocco Schiavone is exiled to the small tourist town of Aosta. It’s everything Rome isn’t—provincial, snowy, and perched in the mountains.
But the cranky detective does love solving crimes. When a body is found on a ski run, Rocco’s first obstacle is overcoming the complicated process of identifying the body.
Stymied by local customs, at a disadvantage thanks to his dialect, and ignorant of the town’s history, Rocco pushes forward to solve the case. Mountain life isn’t easy.
specially when there are multiple corpses involved. But as long as he has an investigation to throw himself into, it just might start to feel like home.
Adam's Rib
Deputy Police Chief Rocco Schiavone is settling into life in the small alpine town of Aosta. He’s even establishing a bit of a routine.
Have an espresso at home. Eat breakfast in the piazza. Smoke a joint in his office. It helps him deal with the stress. And today, he needs it.
It’s his girlfriend’s birthday and he doesn’t have a gift. But when a maid reports a burglary, a gift becomes the least of his problems. There’s no sign of forced entry and the ransacked room looks too carefully orchestrated to be real.
So when he finds the maid’s boss in a grisly suicide, he suspects it’s all been staged. And now he has to investigate a murder.
Out of Season
Spring in the alpine town of Aosta is still bitterly cold. And it’s even colder when a young girl is kidnapped. Chiara Berguet is the daughter of a local construction owner—and her parents owe a sizable debt.
But even the best plans can go awry. When their van gets a flat tire, it skids off the road and crashes into a tree, leaving the driver and his accomplice dead.
Chiara survives, but she’s gagged and tied in the back with no way to escape. Deputy police chief Rocco Schiavone is in the middle of searching for young Chiara when he gets word that an inmate who Rocco put away has escaped and is out for revenge.
Rocco has to find the girl and contend with the prisoner before both situations lead to murder.
Spring Cleaning
Picking up a mere three days after the last book, Deputy Police Chief Rocco Schiavone is out for revenge. A tragic case of mistaken identity left a woman dead and Rocco reeling.
As he searches for the murderer, his instincts are dull, leaving him wide open for unforeseen threats. It’s a risk, especially considering the many toes he’s stepped on over the years.
The only good thing to come out of the mess is the young girl he saved. But even that’s turning complicated as her recovery stalls and her family appears to be putting up some kind of front that not even Rocco can crack.
With two investigations pulling him in different directions and more skeletons than he can count, it’s going to take everything Rocco has to put the pieces together before everything comes crashing down.
