It's been four months since Deputy Police Chief Dottor Rocco Schiavone has been transferred to the picturesque town of Val d'Aosta, and he has hated every minute of it. It's not that he hates the town itself, he would hate it anywhere else if it's not his beloved Rome. It's December, Rocco is cold, his feet are wet, and he still refuses to wear unsightly boots. And because of those industrious small town police officers, he has to work. The nerve of those people! Just as he thought things couldn't get any worse, a body is discovered on the ski slopes nearby, and to top it all, it's a murder. Rocco hasn't really been around town, least of all the ski slopes, and now he has to actually conduct an investigation in these conditions.
BLACK RUN is definitely not your run of the mill murder mystery, and Rocco Schiavone is unlike any detective I have ever seen. But BLACK RUN is so deliciously and irreverently Italian. I love how Mr. Manzini captures the flavour of a small Italian ski town, and that it doesn't get lost in translation either. Rocco is a pot-smoking, middle-aged police officer with a wife he loves, a mistress, and a motley crew of subalterns. He's sarcastic, cynical and not especially well-mannered, and his methods are not quite orthodox but he gets the job done. Rocco is a fascinating character, he possesses an unusual sense of justice. However, when we finally learn why he was banished from Rome, it's a pleasant shocker and reveals an unexpected side of the Italian police officer.
BLACK RUN is a quick, fast-paced read with colourful characters all-around, funny dialogue, and in spite -- or because -- of the general light tone of the book, when the crime is solved, I was quite taken aback. I never saw it coming, and not because of red herrings either, but because BLACK RUN is a very, very clever murder mystery!
Already an international hit, a sly, sizzling mysteryΓ’β¬βthe first in a sensational crime seriesΓ’β¬βset in the Italian Alps, reminiscent of the works of Andrea Camilleri, D. A. Mishani, Donna Leon, and Henning Mankell.
Getting into serious trouble with the wrong people, deputy prefect of police Rocco Schiavone is exiled to Aosta, a small, touristy alpine town far from his beloved Rome. The sophisticated and crotchety Roman despises mountains, snow, and the provincial locals as much as he disdains his superiors and their petty rules. But he loves solving crimes.
When a mangled body has been discovered on a ski run above Champoluc, Rocco immediately faces his first challengeΓ’β¬βidentifying the victim, a complex procedure complicated by his ignorance of the customs, dialect, and history of his new home. Proud and undaunted, Rocco makes his way among the ski runs, mountain huts, and aerial tramways, meeting ski instructors, Alpine guides, the hardworking, enigmatic folk of Aosta, and a few beautiful locals eager to give him a warm welcome.
It won\\\'t be easy, this mountain life, especially with a corpse or two in the mix. But then there\\\'s nothing that makes Rocco feel more at home than an investigation.
An insightful observer of human nature, Antonio Manzini writes with sly humor and a dash of irony, and introduces an irresistible heroΓ’β¬βa fascinating blend of swagger, machismo, and vulnerabilityΓ’β¬βin a colorful and atmospheric crime mystery series that is European crime fiction at its best.
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