When I reviewed David Hewson’s “The Fallen Angel” last month, a book set in its entirety in the ghettos of Rome, I hadn’t anticipated it would awaken a dormant passion for all things Italian. It has been a number of years since my last visit to Italy but reading Hewson’s book reignited my desire to read more Italian based novels when the opportunity presented itself.
You can therefore imagine just how excited I was to receive “Blood Sisters” by Alessandro Perissinotto, published by independent publishers Hersilia Press who concentrate on the very best of Italian crime fiction. Originally published in 2006 under the Italian title “Una piccola storia ignobile” Blood Sisters, the first title in a trilogy with psychologist Anna Pavesi, is translated by Howard Curtis.
“The countryside around Milan is wrapped in eerie darkness as psychologist Anna Pavesi digs in the icy soil, looking for… what? Just over a week earlier, Anna is approached by the well-heeled Benedetta Vitali with a request to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death in a road accident of her half-sister Patrizia and the subsequent disappearance of Patrizia’s body. Anna is not a detective, there has been a misunderstanding, but she is short of money and agrees to take on the assignment. It will lead her into a labyrinth of false clues and wilful deception in which nothing is as it seems. Was Patrizia’s death merely a commonplace hit-and-run incident on a country lane, or was there something more sinister behind it? As she digs deeper, Anna realises that even her own life may be in danger…”
A foreign piece of work is only as strong as its translation and Howard Curtis has done a wonderful job of translating Alessandro’s novel. The narrative is strong and flows …
