Converging Parallels (commissario Trotti #1)

(Paperback)

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Description

Northern Italy, 1978: Commissario Piero Trotti, trusted senior police investigator in an anonymous provincial city off the River Po, has two difficult cases to solve. An unidentified, dismembered body has been found in the river, and it's up to Trotti to figure out who the murder victim is. Meanwhile, an estranged friend approaches Trotti with a desperate personal plea: his six-year-old daughter, Trotti's own goddaughter, has been kidnapped. Williams' first novel is a gripping, literary thriller with vividly drawn characters and lush descriptions.

Reviews

Praise for Converging Parallels

By far the best thriller to appear so far this year and I cannot truly see it being bettered . . . The atmosphere is electric and the writing is stylish yet tense.
Punch Magazine

Commissario Trotti is an inspired creation . . . As well as being an accomplished thriller, the story casts a stark light on the political corruption which is rife in Italy.
The Sunday Times

InConverging Parallels, Timothy Williams combines a lament for a decaying society with a kidnapping case in a small, municipally proud, communist controlled Italian city...a bright new talent.
Guardian

You don't often get detectives as roundly and palpably portrayed as Trotti.
Oxford Times

A masterful work.
Rpublicain(France)

A wonderful picture of Italy during the time of the Red Brigades.
Elle(France)

Impressive debut of a sternly likable Italian policeman/sleuth . . . shapely plot twists and muted, off-beat character portraits.
Kirkus

A gripping story, with skillfully humanized characters.
Publishers Weekly

A glimpse of authentic contemporary life in Italy....[ConvergingParallels] is clever and interesting.
West Coast Review of Books

The atmosphere is convincing, the characters vivid....You will need your wits about you for this one, but it's worth it for its twists and turns and sombre north Italian background.
Homes and Gardens

Full of atmosphere and suitably strange characters.
South Bend Tribune


Praise for the Commissario Piero Trotti series

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

"Subtle, tense and gripping.
Val McDermid

Trotti, whose patch is an unnamed small town in northern Italy, is dogged, cynical, and worries about his wife and anorexic daughter. But above all, hes honest in a society and political system in which corruption flourishes.
Sunday Times

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

Superb.
TheScotsman

Breathtakingly good.
Evening Standard

Wake up and smell the grappa. Big Italy is a chilling education, a scalpel-sharp exploration of Italys body politic. Timothy Williams knows the ABC of corruptionAndreotti, Berlusconi, Craxiand is a convincing and compelling voice.
Ian Rankin

The ageing moody 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.
The Times

Simple but stylish... [Williams's] plotting [is] impeccable.
Time Out

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

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

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

Williams points to specific and specifically Italian corruption. His indirect style is particularly suited to the frequently indirect patterns of life and crime in Italy, without falling back on the more picturesque or charming qualities of life there for solace.
International Noir Fiction

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.