In a quiet, remote town in the beautiful mountains known as
the Italian Alps, a gruesome, brutal killing is discovered.
The body of a man, nude, with his face assaulted and his
eyes gouged out, is found just outside the Village of
Traveni. The remainder of his body was unharmed. His torso
was carefully arranged and protected from animals by knotted
rope surrounding the corpse to be kept safe until it was
discovered. Who committed this horrible murder, and why?
Called to the scene of the crime is Detective Superintendent
of the Italian Police, Teresa Battaglia, very experienced,
especially in profiling. Teresa is in her 60's, has a weight
problem, is diabetic and facing serious health problem that
she thinks is the beginnings of Alzheimer's disease. She has
times when she can not remember things, and she has begun
writing daily in her Journal to keep track of her days,
decisions, and inner feelings and save her precious job.
The dark back story is about The School. In Austria, across
the border from Traveni, it began as a hunting lodge, then,
a Nazi Command Center, and later a sanitorium for
consumptive children. It became an Orphanage where nurse
Agnes Braun resided and ruled. She kept the strict rules.
"Observe, Record, and Forget." Experiments on babies during
the war and beyond were carried out also with strict
regulations. Always cover your eyes wearing a white
mask-like hood. NEVER touch or speak to the children, who
were never given a name only a Bed Number, such as BED
NUMBER 39. Their progress was carefully chronicled.
FLOWERS OVER THE INFERNO is the debut novel from Ilaria
Tuti, and translated from Italian by Ekin Oklap. The
Northern Italy location in the mountains, filled with
forests, alpine lakes and peaks is brilliantly and
beautifully described. It is her homeland, and she proudly
dedicates this book to it. I found it to be an unsettling
thriller with a heroine I loved, a smart cop who is female,
a fighter, blunt and mature. Her growing affection and
admiration for her cub detective as they work together to
get the job done. Find the killer! The plot is complex,
chilling but compelling, a batch of bloody killings with a
killer with primal instincts and not much help from the
locals who are guarding their secrets while protecting each
other. They do not trust strangers, and the tourists who
visit are accepted for their monetary value only. So much
dark history and attention are drawn to many of the children
who were kept at The School. A finale ties up the loose
ends, and a monster is finally stopped. FLOWERS OVER THE
INFERNO is the first in a trilogy from Ms. Tuti. I hope the
next it brings the return of Teresa Battaglia and her crew.
Molto buono!
In a quiet village surrounded by ancient woods and the
imposing Italian Alps, a man is found naked with his eyes
gouged out. It is the first in a string of gruesome
murders.
Superintendent Teresa Battaglia, a detective with a
background in criminal profiling, is called to
investigate. Battaglia is in her mid-sixties, her rank
and expertise hard-won from decades of battling for
respect in the male-dominated Italian police force. While
she’s not sure she trusts the young city inspector
assigned to assist her, she sees right away that this is
no ordinary case: buried deep in these mountains are
whispers of a dark and dangerous history, possibly tied
to a group of eight-year-old children toward whom the
killer seems to gravitate.
As Teresa inches closer to the truth, she must also
confront the possibility that her body and mind, worn
down by age and illness, may fail her before the chase is
over.
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