A gripping mystery that weaves fascinating World War II history into a contemporary Italian detective’s search for the truth.
I’ve been reading several books selected by the International Pulpwood Queens & Timber Guys Book Club, now that my novel Pause has been chosen as a 2022 title. I enjoyed meeting Chiara Giacobe this week via the weekly Zoom get-togethers hosted by Kathy L. Murphy for PQTG authors and readers. Giacobe represents the U.S.-based Kazabo Publishing that has released the first English translation of Bruno Morchio’s bestselling novel, the latest in his popular mystery series featuring detective Bacci Pagano.
From the start of the novel, I was captured by the vivid scenes of street life in Genoa and introduction to the troubled detective Bacci Pagano. Bacci, who was jailed earlier in life for a crime he didn’t commit, keeps his feelings tightly held from all but the reader, and the author’s profession as a psychologist shows in the deep development of all the characters. Bacci, while keeping hospital vigil for the victim of human trafficking and torture in a case he helped crack, is hired by a mysterious, elderly German. The new case involves delving into the tightly-held secrets of the surviving partisan resistance fighters from World War II. Bacci’s chapters, in which he navigates the twisting lanes of Genoa on his trusty Vespa, alternate with scenes from 1944 Italy. These scenes focus on the young woman Tilde, who carries messages on her old bicycle for the partisans resisting the occupying Nazi Germans who are torturing and killing any suspected partisans.
The gripping historical scenes are based on actual events and places, with many of the partisan fighters real historic figures. The privations of the nearly-starving Italians and the moral ambiguities of war are presented in all-too-believable detail, as good people are faced with anguishing choices. Some characters must report friends as traitors, knowing they are sentencing them to death by the partisans. And the stakes are very personal: How can you love someone who just shot a friend in the street? The Nazi atrocities, of course, are well known, but even a Nazi captain here gains some sympathy for his despair in being trapped in his own role in the war.
The contemporary scenes with Bacci’s investigations are likewise gritty and propulsive, as he tries to break the code of silence of the elderly partisans and leads a dangerous race to rescue one of the human-trafficking victims in a hail of bullets.
Chiara Giacobe is hoping that Morchio’s novel might become a movie or TV series, and I agree it would be an excellent pick. My only regret is that the rest of the series is not yet available in English translation. I highly recommend The German Client!
*****
You will find The Rambling Writer’s blog posts here every Saturday. Sara’s latest novel from Book View Café is Pause, a First Place winner of the Chanticleer Somerset Award and an International Pulpwood Queens Book Club selection. “A must-read novel about friendship, love, and killer hot flashes.” (Mindy Klasky). Sign up for her quarterly email newsletter at www.sarastamey.com
