There’s Inspector Montalbano who, while chasing a dangerous fugitive, has to organize a bunch of invitations for New Year’s Eve. Will he be able to taste Madame Adelina’s legendary arancini for dinner? And behind it, here are one by one the most beloved investigators: Rocco Schiavone, Petra Delicado, Mina Settembre, the “parents” of BarLume and Andrea Consonni. Everyone is dealing with an investigation that occurred between Christmas and New Years. Their stories will brighten our evenings during the holidays. Because on holidays, as we know, a good mystery is the best reading, a trusted friend to share precious time with. If so, here we are satisfied. In fact, the letter is available on newsstands for free starting tomorrow Republic the new one “Christmas Mysteries” series.created in collaboration with Sellerio. Six fifty-page volumes each contain six investigations by six of our much-loved literary detectives.
We start with holy monsters like Andrea Camilleri. Could it be that it’s not there? Even more so in the year when the writer, who is still a master for many crime writers in our country, will turn one hundred years old. The story “Special dinner”which you can now find on newsstands, taken from the collection New Year’s Eve is yellow released in 2012.
Tuesday whatever “The Hermit” From Antonio Manzinitaken from the anthology A year in yellow (2018), where we find tortured deputy commissioner Rocco Schiavone struggling, days before Christmas and feverish (“chills ran down his spine, his temples banged, the room spun from right to left and left to right, his aching joints creaked with rust. The symptoms spoke plainly. He’d felt it for three days”), with what appears to be a tragic accident. The investigation into the death of a hermit leads him – and us with him – to a small abandoned church high up in the snow and cold of December, where only the deputy commissioner’s intuition will lead to an unexpected solution to the case.
The only non-Italian writer, in a group of writers who were all Italian (apart from Camilleri and Manzini, the others were Maurizio de Giovanni, Marco Malvaldi and Francesco Recami), was Spanish. Alicia Gimenez Bartlettarriving Wednesday the 19th with “Princess Umberta”. The bestselling author takes us to the Christmas dinner at the police station of beloved protagonist Petra Delicado. This is how the Barcelona police inspector, whom we know on our screens by the face of Paola Cortellesi, tells us: «Around the twentieth of December every year, in every cursed year that God sends to earth, the famous Christmas dinner at the police station is held, a happy festive event in the name of peace, love and brotherhood. It should be a touching moment, where those of us who are off duty wish each other a happy holiday. And I’m not saying it’s a bad idea, on the contrary, I would even find it wonderful, if not for the fact that all the brotherhood and love that we managed to express between us managed to immediately turn into vulgar rudeness… And it’s clear that I also ran away as quickly as possible, hoping that no one would take it. But in that year, escape seemed impossible.” It won’t take long for us to discover that, during that dinner, suddenly, a mysterious message appears on the smartphone that his deputy received during his forty years of service. This is the beginning of an investigation to uncover the truth about the death, and ambiguous past, of an Italian noblewoman.
Next week we start again with “One day in September at Christmas” From Maurizio de Giovannion newsstands Monday November 24: this is the birth story of Mina Settembre, a social worker at a clinic in Naples’ Quartieri Spagnoli, determined to protect the vulnerable from abuse. Anyone who knows the TV series with Serena Rossi will know. Memorable opening passage: «Gelsomina Settembre has one unshakable belief: The Days That Suck».
In the “Experience makes a difference” From Marco Malvaldi (on newsstands Tuesday the 25th) we find a group of older men accompanying each other in BarLume, intent on discussing current local events. Including the story of vandals who at night overturned recycling bins and scattered their contents onto the street. It all started with revenge…
Finally, Wednesday the 26th was our turn “Christmas at home”story about Francesco Recami starring Andrea Consonni. On Christmas Eve, the explosion of Enrico’s toy machine gun (an ill-advised gift from his detective grandfather) gives rise to a series of micro-crime stories about many criminals without crimes. In short, not only red, yellow is also suitable for Christmas.
