Daughter of Ashes

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Description

Set in the idyllic mountains of Northern Italy, the latest volume in Ilaria Tuti's gripping series is a tour de force, a poignant and irresistible story about the relentless pull of the past on the present. Set in the idyllic mountains of Northern Italy, the latest volume in Ilaria Tuti's gripping series is a tour de force, a poignant and irresistible story about the relentless pull of the past on the present. Superintendent Teresa Battaglia, a trail-blazing criminal detective on the Italian police force, is on sick leave, recovering from her recent brush with death in pursuit of a killer. But none of her colleagues, not even her partner, know that her Alzheimer's is getting worse, and that Teresa is unsure she will ever return to work. Teresa's plans for retirement are shelved, however, when she is urgently summoned to meet with menacing serial killer Giacomo Mainardi. Refusing to speak with anyone but Teresa, whose investigative work twenty-seven years prior landed him in maximum security prison, Mainardi has disconcerting news- somebody is after him, and only Teresa holds the key to keeping everyone, including herself, safe. To solve the case, Teresa must come face to face with a history she thought she'd buried, back to when Giacomo first began to kill, and Teresa-newly pregnant and married to an abusive man-did everything she could to catch him.

Reviews

Praise for Daughter of Ashes

An Amazon Editors Pick for December 2023

Lyrical . . . those who succumb to its grandiloquent pleasures will be richly rewarded.
Wall Street Journal

The chapters alternate between 27 years ago and the murders and modern day with such fluidity that were drawn into a web of intrigue . . . Daughter of Ashes is a gem of a book, a master lesson in fiction writing. Dont miss Ilaria Tutis drama; youll be worse off if you skip this one.
TheDurango Telegraph

Daughter of Ashes is utterly spellbinding, and I cant stop thinking about this complex, unforgettable heroine. I am so glad to have discovered the gorgeously written novels of Ilaria Tuti!
Tess Gerritsen, New York Times bestselling author of The Spy Coast

Twenty-seven years ago, a promising young criminal investigator apprehended a serial killer. Now, as her brilliant mind threatens to betray her, hes asking for her help. Superintendent Teresa Battaglia is a detective for the ages, and her violent history collides with even more violent rituals as Ilaria Tuti takes readers into the dark heart of crime. Daughter of Ashes isan enveloping, elegant puzzle box mystery, every page of which sparkles and sings.
Tessa Wegert, author of The Kind to Kill

Ilaria Tuti offers equal parts Thomas Harris and Dan Brown (with a dash of True Detective) that will have you white-knuckling your way to the end of Daughter of Ashes.
Eryk Pruitt, author of Something Bad Wrong

Immaculately plotted and intricate, Daughter of Ashes sets a new bar for fictional investigations of murder. Whether Teresa can convince Marini, or us, that empathy for Giacomo is both humane and important to solving his crimes acts as an added strand of powerful suspense, in a book that also probes the most painful and enduring of our losses.
Beth Kanell, Stories That Matter

In a compelling development, Teresas emotional walls erode as she recognizes the loyalty of her team, and series fans will find reassurance that, despite her insistence on retiring, a fortuitous twist leaves doors open for future installments. Great for fans of Meagan Jennetts You Know Her (2023).
Booklist, Starred Review

Splendidly constructed . . . A standout entry in a superior series.
Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

As with other novels in this series, the past casts long shadows that affect the present . . . What adds to the allure are the very human characters. The emotions and reactions are entirely believablefrighteningly so in some instances, downright creepy in others, frequently unsettling, but, most of all, deeply moving. Tuti does a nice job of educating the reader about the fourth century world and its politics without being pedantic, makes us care enormously about all the characters, and tells a great tale.
Reviewing the Evidence

Daughter of Ashes has depth and complexity . . . Its aslow but consistently engaging burn, beautifully written with exquisite turns of phrase and vivid descriptions. Highly recommended for readers who enjoy crime fiction with more meat on its bones.
Crime Fiction Lover

The case grows more and more intense, and the revelations as the team digs deeperin addition to readers witnessing Teresas further deteriorationvault Daughter of Ashes well above your typical crime/mystery novel. The result is a first-rate suspenseful read that never disappoints.
Bookreporter

A monumental tale . . .
Kirkus Reviews

Praise for the Teresa Battaglia novels

[Tuti] introduces a sympathetic heroine in Battaglia, whose gruffness masks a fear she may be losing her unique abilities.
The Wall Street Journal

[Teresa Battaglia] is out of shape, diabetic and busy fighting the early stages of Alzheimer's diseaseon top of handling a complex case . . . It's nice to see a cop who isn't slim and sexy chasing after serial killers.
NPR

Creepy and evocative.
The Guardian

[A] stunning and disturbing trilogy . . . Teresa has always been an extraordinary character.
First Clue

Ilaria Tuti demonstrates her stature as a storyteller who makes sculptures and paintings of the intense veins of the human soul. Her prose is dense and deep. Charged with life, even when facing death.
Annachiara Sacchi, Corriere della Sera

A colossal black rebus of the soul, which Tuti knows how to investigate masterfully, with a grasp of Evil that once again stuns the reader.
Fabrizio d'Esposito, The Daily Fact

The key word for entering Ilaria Tuti's world is empathy, a deep and original emotional intelligence, thanks to which she manages to put herself in others' shoes, with the same investigative method of her Teresa Battaglia, a police commissioner with a wounded physique and an extraordinary brain."
Raffaella Silipo, Tuttolibri, La Stampa

Author Bio

Ilaria Tuti lives in Gemona del Friuli, in the province of Udine. She has a degree in economics and has always had a passion for painting and nature. She has won Italy's National Women's Literary Prize and was nominated for the Sue Grafton Memorial Award. She is the author of two other novels in the Teresa Battaglia series, Flowers over the Inferno and The Sleeping Nymph. Ekin Oklap was born in Turkey, grew up in Italy, and currently lives in London. She translates from Turkish and Italian. As a translator, she has been shortlisted for the International Booker Prize and the John Florio Prize.