- Paperback: 400 pages
- Publisher: Abacus; Illustrated. edition (5 April 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0349120072
- ISBN-13: 978-0349120072
- Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 13.5 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 370,232 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
A Death in Tuscany (Michele Ferrara)
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Review
For A Florentine Death: '...has all the hallmarks of becoming a classic of the genre - a highly atmospheric tale of murder, the mafia and the rarely explored criminal underbelly of Florentine life...Ferrara is set to run and run.' Mirror ** 'An exceptional thriller and I'd wager a handy sum that Michele Ferrara will be with us for some time to come.' Evening Herald ** 'Giuttari shapes his knowledge and experience into a cracking page-turner.' RTE Guide
Independent on Sunday
`Each scene is convincing and well-realised'
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Pacy Italian Mystery,
This review is from: A Death in Tuscany (Michele Ferrara) (Paperback)
A young girl, "little more than a child", is found dying near a remote village in northern Tuscany; a week later the police still do not know her identity and the case notes find their way to the desk of Chief Superintendent Michele Ferrara, head of Florence's Squadra Mobile. The girl died of a lethal heroin dose but the fact that forensic examination confirms she was not an addict, coupled with her very young age, persuades Ferrara that he should investigate a likely murder. As he gets deeper into it, another murder takes place and the implications of the case begin to stretch out both across Tuscany as well as much closer to home for Ferrara.
AS one-time head of the police in Florence, this is familiar territory for Giuttari and the insight into the police, their poor relationship with the Carabinieri and the workings of the Italian justice system provide a solid, believable backdrop for the story he unfolds. The pace is good and the plot twists and turns and draws the reader in. Perhaps the many threads are brought together a little too succinctly but this is an accomplished novel and the translation by Howard Curtis is crisp and seamless. It is a refreshing addition to the genre and an excellent read.
3.0 out of 5 stars
An average read then for those of us interested in Italy and or the crime novel,
By
This review is from: A Death in Tuscany (Michele Ferrara) (Paperback)
Whilst the title for this book is not very imaginative, it is the reason I was drawn to pick this up for the Italy in Books - Reading Challenge 2011. This is not a genre I read a great deal of and the author is not familiar to me so I do not feel I can compare him with others that write books set in Italy in this genre of which there are quite a few.
Michele Giuattari is a former Florence Police Chief so he does have an insiders advantage on the understanding of how the police and legal system work within Italy. This I think is certainly the sort of case that is sadly based on current issues in the real world, so fiction that has fact behind it. The story is about the investigation into the death of a young girl hardly more than a child, whom it is assumed died of a drug overdose. The case is taken on by Chief Superintendent Michele Ferrara and he quickly realises that this is far more than a simple overdose death. He believes that the girl was murdered and as he investigates becomes convinced it is part of a much wider conspiracy. It even turns out that there is a sinister connection between this case and the disappearance of a close friend of his! The speech appears stilted at times but I think this is just because English is not the original language. There are many characters and I did not find any of them particularly memorable, but the plot line was strong enough to hold my attention in what was a quick light read. What was of interest is the setting of Florence and the surrounding countryside, appealing if you know the area and maybe tempting you to visit if you do not. An average read then for those of us interested in Italy and or the crime novel. I doubt if I would have picked this up if it were not for the Italy in Books - Reading Challenge 2011 though.
11 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Brisk, mildly entertaining thriller,
By
This review is from: A Death in Tuscany (Michele Ferrara) (Paperback)
Following on from his first Michele Ferrara novel, A Florentine Death, the lack of imagination shown in the title of A Death in Tuscany doesn't promise any great leap forward from the inadequacy of police-chief-turned-novelist Michele Giuttari's debut novel. There is however a bit more realism in here in the police procedural and in the subject matter, as well as some contemporary relevance to the crime situation in Italy in contrast to the ludicrous serial-killer plotting of A Florentine Death.
It's the death of an unidentified 14 year-old girl, presumably an immigrant, from a drugs overdose that opens up police lines of enquiry into organised crime, drug running and even a cover-up from higher authorities when Chief Superintendent Ferrara's suspicions are aroused, the head of the Squadra Mobile refusing to accept the obvious assumption that the underage girl was a prostitute. When a close friend goes missing however, the Chief switches his attentions to that case, despite it clashing with a murder investigation by the Carabinieri - but could the two cases be linked in some way? Well, evidently... As a former Florence Police Chief himself, Giuttari's latest novel delivers rather better on the promise of providing an insider's view of the workings and complicated hierarchy within the Italian criminal justice and policing system, and the difficulties of carrying out an investigation when there are ties to powerful bodies such as the Mafia, the Church and the Masons, to say nothing of the delicate matter of police and Carabinieri relations. Even if it does at times feel like a vanity project for the Chief Superintendent to show off his independence, integrity and incorruptibility, it at least tackles an interesting subject through a case that would seem to have a basis in real-world issues. Unfortunately, Giuttari's writing itself hasn't improved greatly. It still feels amateurish and awkward, the dialogue is unrealistic and seemingly rather too literally translated, and the characters fail to really come to life. The investigation however is strong enough this time for the reader to overlook the weaknesses and implausibilities, making A Death in Tuscany the very definition of brisk, light summer reading.
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