Everyone in Their Place: The Summer of Commissario Ricciardi

Maurizio de Giovanni

Nov 2013 · The Commissario Ricciardi Mysteries Book 3 · Europa Editions

About this ebook

Third in “a superb historical series set in Fascist Italy . . . and featuring one of the most melancholy detectives in European noir crime fiction (The New York Times Book Review).

Commissario Ricciardi has visions. He sees and hears the final seconds in the lives of victims of violent deaths. It is both a gift and a curse. It has helped him become one of the most acute and successful homicide detectives in the Naples police force. But the horror and suffering he has seen has hollowed him out emotionally. He drinks too much and sleeps too little. His love life is a shamble. Other than his loyal partner, Brigadier Maione, he has no friends.

Naples, 1931. Together with Brigadier Maione, Ricciardi is investigating the death of the beautiful and mysterious Duchess of Camparino, whose connections to privileged Neapolitan social circles and the local fascist elite make the case a powder keg waiting to explode. As Benito Mussolini’s state visit to Naples looms and authorities frantically seek to clean up the city’s image, Ricciardi will stop at nothing to find the duchess’s killer.

“Reading a novel by Maurizio de Giovanni is like stepping into a Vittorio De Sica movie. The sights and smells of Naples are pungently evoked.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Combines a rare setting for a whodunit, Fascist Italy, with a classic fair-play puzzle and a highly unusual lead . . . a lyrical and tantalizing opening . . . intriguing.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“In the popular field of historical noir featuring gloomy but brilliant detectives, de Giovanni’s series easily stands out as a success.” —Library Journal (starred review)

Ratings and reviews

excellent book!

very good

About the author

Maurizio de Giovanni lives and works in Naples. In 2005, he won a writing competition for unpublished authors with a short story set in the thirties about Commissario Ricciardi, which was then turned into the first novel of the series. His books have been successfully translated into French, Spanish and German, and are now available in English. Antony Shugaar 's translations for Europa Editions include For Grace Recieved by Valeria Parrella, Everybody's Right by Paolo Sorrentino, Fabio Bartolomei's Alfa Romeo 1300 and Other Miracles, and Margherita Dolce Vita by Stefano Benni.