Literature, horror, police procedural, classic mystery: that's what you get in the Commissario
Ricciardi Series. Blood Curse is book
two. Two aspects of Italian culture are
featured in Blood Curse: motherhood, and
an over emphasis on physical beauty.
People suffer terribly in the book for both aspects.
The book begins by introducing the characters, using skilled
third-person narration in both the classic omniscient style and sometimes in
the limited style, with a darkly ironic narrative voice. There are many poetical touches in the text,
especially when Naples is described.
Book One
To be honest, one-third of a way into the book, I returned
to the start and skimmed through to make sure I had everyone and everything
thing straight, before continuing reading through to the end. It was worth the effort.
I love challenging books that have big rewards, and this is
one of those books. There is much for an
Italophile to enjoy in this series that is written in Italian and wonderfully
translated into English. The translator smoothly
inserts explanations of the Italian elements, keeping a strong local flavor while
making it intelligible for non-Italian readers.
Book Three
Horror is not my favorite genre, and I avoid horror films
like a plague, but I can just bear it in a book. The horrific descriptions of the recently
deceased in Blood Curse, and the other books in the series, have a
purpose.
Police Commissario Luigi
Alfredo Ricciardi di Malomonte has a special ability that gives him a decided
edge when solving homicide cases: he can
see the ghosts of the recently deceased, and hear their last thoughts and
words.
With that ability (reminiscent of the film Sixth Sense and
the TV show Ghost Whisperer) Ricciardi is:
...the sole spectator of the rotten theatre of human evil.
Book Four
The era is the early years of Italy's Fascist regime, the
1930s, so the reader gets a glimpse at what life under the Fascists was like (a
police state is not pleasant, but many needed modernizations were made to
Italy's infrastructure).
The setting is southern Italy's iconic city, Naples. There is a real feel for the city and her
people. The differences between today's
Naples and the Naples of then are pointed out, too. If you know Naples, then you'll find that
extra interest in the books.
The city reminded Ricciardi more all the time of one of those houses with a nice parlor for entertaining guests while the rest of the rooms were falling apart.
Book Five
Commissario Ricciardi is a tragic figure, suffering since
childhood with his visions. He isolates
himself so as to not taint others with his burden, but that just adds to his
sadness. He was given a privileged
upbringing, one that we glimpse in flashbacks now and then.
He has few close friends, but they are fiercely loyal: his nanny from childhood, his police Brigadier,
and the medical examiner who calls Ricciardi the "Prince of Darkness"
because of his spectral appearance that strikes all who see him.
Book Six
Ricciardi's attempts, sometimes just imaginary, to have
normal human contact, are very touching.
It is Ricciardi's, and his close friends', strong decency at the heart
of the story that made the death and suffering bearable for this reader. There is also some humor to lighten the tale.
If you are looking for Italian crime novels with a
difference, this could be your go-to series.
Like all Italian fiction, it is rich with human psychology, both the
good and the bad. It is also at times
literary, poetical, touching, funny, ghostly, macabre, fascinating and even
educational about the historical era.
Book Seven
Here are the books to-date in the Commissario Ricciardi
Series:
- I Will Have Vengeance (Winter - Novella)
- Blood Curse (Spring)
- Everyone in their Place (Summer)
- The Day of the Dead (Autumn)
- By My Hand (Winter)
- Viper (Spring)
- The Bottom of Your Heart (Summer)
Here is a direct link to the series page at Amazon.com. Here is a direct link to Blood Curse at Amazon.com.
Please visit the author's page at his English language publisher's site.
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