Description
Welcome to the dark side of the dolce vita In the hot, shadowy streets of Rome, Vicki Wilson's lovers keep turning up dead. Vittoria, as she's known in Italy, is a small-time actress who left behind a dark past in her native Texas and followed her fading writer husband to the Eternal City. Guided by her controlling, obsessive brother Johnny, Vittoria soon enters the upper circles of Roman society, becoming a paparazzi darling and mingling with shady cardinals and corrupt senators. Among them is Paolo Orsini, who quickly falls prey to Vittoria's charms. Too bad he's married; too bad his wife, an aging film icon, is murdered. From the ravishing beauty of Rome - a city of dark secrets held within the frescoed walls of glamorous palazzos- to the pristine beaches of Malibu and the dangerous alleys of a mysterious South American city, Vittoria finds herself at the heart of a lethal chase, spiralling dangerously out of control... Winner of the Hammett Prize for Best Crime Fiction An irresistible page-turner loved by readers: 'Sultry, decadent, and erotically charged' Booklist 'My, my, my, what a dark and sordid tale of jealousy, desire, and cold-blooded murder this proved to be... I absolutely loved it' Goodreads review ***** 'A wild ride' Publisher's Weekly Starred Review 'Excellent read, it was tough to put this down... The writing and the tension in the story were phenomenal' Goodreads review ***** 'Freaking incredible' Crimespree Magazine 'I couldn't put it down... Just incredible' Goodreads review ***** 'Perhaps the most surprising feature of this tour de force is its pervasive links to both Jacobean tragedy and contemporary Mediterranean noir. Who knew?' Kirkus 'Modern noir as good as it gets' Goodreads review ***** 'More than a murder mystery: a story of Italy, obsessions, candid cultural observations, and a sense of place and confused purpose that keep readers guessing, entertained, and thoroughly immersed' Midwest Book Review
About the Author
Domenic Stansberry is an Edgar Award winning novelist known for his dark, innovative crime novels. His latest novel, The White Devil, tells the story of a young American woman in Rome, an aspiring actress, who— together with her too charming brother— is implicated in a series of crimes dating back to her childhood days in Texas. Stansberry is also the author of the North Beach Mystery Series, which has won wide praise for its portrayal of the ethnic and political subcultures of San Francisco. Books from the series include The Ancient Rain, named several years after its original publication as one of the best crime novels of the decade by Booklist.An earlier novel, The Confession, received the Edgar Allan Poe Award for its portrayal of a Marin County psychologist accused of murdering his mistress.Stansberry grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and currently lives in a small town north of that city with his wife, the poet Gillian Conoley, and their daughter Gillis.