Black August: Commissario Trotti #4

(Paperback)

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Description

Northern Italy in the late 1980s, and Commissario Trotti of Italy's Poliza di Stato is called to the scene of a brutal murder. When he arrives he find that the disfigured victim is an old friend, schoolteacher Rosanna Belloni. Warned off the case by his superiors, Trotti continues his enquiries - unofficially. First he must trace Rosanna's missing drug-addicted sister and before long he finds himself involved in the most complex and puzzling investigation of his career.

Reviews

Praise for Black August

Winner of the 1992 Crime Writers' Association Award

Trotti is a subtle and convincing creation; the other characters are portrayed with depth and sensitivity, and the Italian atmosphere is authentically beguiling. First-rate in every way.
TheTimes

[Williamss] simple but stylish dialogue-driven prose is convincingly Continental, his plotting impeccable.
Time Out

Williams writes like an angel. He does, but thank Beelzebub, it's a mongrel angel with a bit of fiend about him.
Oxford Times

Ingenious and evocative.
Literary Review

Williams creates ahighly convincing Italian background and is superb at giving his characters oblique dialogue.
The Scotsman

Williams has a gift for creating characters that stick with you long after you have put the book down . . . Add to that gift for recreating the hazy tensions of a small Italian city baking in the summer sun, and you begin to appreciate why so many critics find his novels gripping reads.
Western Mail

A fresh and convincing setting . . . Signor Trotti [is] a well-drawn and sympathetic figure.
Western Morning News

If you haven't discovered the Trotti books . . . all of them are highly recommended.
International Noir Fiction

Another excellent novel . . . as gripping in its psychological investigations as Simenon.
British Book News

Take a break with the soothingly cynical company of an Italian crime solver. Michael Dibdin's Aurelio Zen, Donna Leon's Guido Brunetti, and Andrea Camilleri's Salvo Montalbano come to mind. Add to these Timothy Williams's Commissario Piero Trotti.
Read Me Deadly


Praise for the Commissario Piero Trotti series

"A delight.
The Observer, "10 Best Modern European Crime Writers"

"Subtle, tense and gripping.
Val McDermid

Commissario Trotti is clever and tough . . . His investigation is fascinating to an American reader because it offers insights into the Italian power structure, which is far more interesting than it is stable.
Newsday

Long live Trotti.
Financial Times

Breathtakingly good.
Evening Standard

Fans of dark-edged, politically textured Euro-mystery will want to keep track of Trottis adventures.
Kirkus Reviews

Stylish and excellent. Those who like Dibdin will eat it up.
Lionel Davidson

Trotti himself is perversely lovable; totally dedicated but not without dark, self-deprecating humor.
Booklist

Author Bio

CWA award-winning author Timothy Williams has written five crime novels set in Italy featuring Commissario Piero Trotti, as well as two mysteries set on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe (Another Sun and The Honest Folk of Guadeloupe). In 2011, the Observer placed him among the ten best modern European crime novelists. Born in London and educated at St. Andrews, Williams has taught at the universities of Poitiers in France, Bari and Pavia in Italy, and at Jassy in Romania. He has lived in the French West Indies, where he teaches, since 1980.