"Carlo Lucarelli is the great promise of Italian crime writing."- La Stampa April 1945, Italy. Commissario De Luca is heading up a dangerous investigation into the private lives of the rich and powerful during the frantic final days of the facist regime. The hierarchy has guaranteed De Luca their full cooperation, just so long as he arrests the "right" suspect. The house of cards built by Mussolini in the last months of WWII is collapsing and De Luca faces a world mired in sadistic sex, dirty money, drugs and murder. One of Italy's best-loved crime writers, Carlo Lucarelli has published over a dozen novels and short story collections.

"A fresh and exciting new voice in Italian crime fiction. Keep the translations coming."- Booklist It is 1946. De Luca suffers from insomnia and has lost his appetite. He's got problems with women and a case that he can't crack. In this second installment of the heralded De Luca trilogy, the Commissario is posing as a certain Giovanni Morandi to avoid reprisals for the role he played during the fascist dictatorship. Exposed by a member of the partisan police, De Luca is forced to investigate a series of brutal murders, becoming a reluctant player in Italy's postwar power struggle.

It is 1948. Italy's fate is soon to be decided in bitterly contested national elections. A man has been found dead in via delle Oche, at the center of Bologna's notorious red light district. The city fathers would like to disguise the man's death as a suicide. But Commissario De Luca knows better. While the man hanging from a rafter does have a noose around his neck and an overturned stool beneath him, when the stool is righted, his feet don't reach the seat. "Normal enough that a hanged man grows a little longer if he's left a while," De Luca quips. "But I've never heard of one getting shorter." As always, De Luca is unwilling to look the other way when evidence in the man's murder points to local politicians and members of the Bologna police force. The brutal worlds of crime and politics conspire once again, and in this installment of the renowned De Luca trilogy, sex for money is added into the mix. As elections creep nearer, the death count escalates with every new lead. De Luca is so close to the truth he can smell it, and it reeks of danger.

Quello tra il 25 luglio e l'8 settembre del 1943 è un periodo strano, allucinato. L'Italia si sveglia una mattina senza più il fascismo e praticamente la mattina dopo con i tedeschi in casa. Proprio nel caos di quei giorni De Luca, in forza alla polizia criminale di Bologna, si trova a indagare su un corpo senza testa. Semplice, perché in fondo si tratta di un omicidio, un lavoro da cane da chilometri a vuoto, piste da seguire e qualche cazzotto da mettere in conto se ficchi il naso dove non dovresti. Complicato, perché la vicenda assume presto risvolti politici che, date le circostanze, diventano molto pericolosi. Comunque sia il caso, è nella natura di De Luca, va risolto. Sempre. Anche a costo di accettare un compromesso.