The Dogs of Rome: A Commissario Alec Blume Novel (The Alec Blume Novels) - Hardcover

Fitzgerald, Conor

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1608190153 ISBN 13: 9781608190157

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA, 2010

Synopsis

On a hot summer morning, Arturo Clemente is sloppily murdered in his Roman apartment by a mysterious slasher. When his wife, an eminent politician, finds his body, she swiftly springs into action--by calling the Ministry of the Interior.

By the time police inspector Alec Blume arrives at the scene, evidence has been collected, command taken, and, in short--his investigation has been compromised. As the details of the case continue to trickle out, Blume soon realizes he is being watched from on high--and that solving this crime may be the least of his worries. Losing sleep and unsure who to trust, Blume feels the case spinning out of control: does anyone involved even want justice? At what price will it come? And who runs this town--the police, the politicians, or organized criminals?

In this riveting novel, we are introduced to Blume, an American expatriate and seasoned police veteran. Intelligent yet sometimes petulant, instinctive yet flawed, Blume is a likeable and trustworthy protagonist for this, the first installment of a gritty and promising series.

About this title

About the Author

Conor Fitzgerald has lived in Ireland, the UK, the United States and Italy. He has worked as an arts editor, produced a current affairs journal for foreign embassies based in Rome, and founded a successful translation company. He is married with two children and still lives in Rome.

Reviews

Fitzgerald's impressively plotted debut, the first in a projected contemporary crime series, introduces police chief commissioner Alec Blume, an American expatriate who's been living in Rome for the last 22 years. Since losing both his parents—art historians who were shot and killed during a bank robbery on Via Cristoforo Colombo—as a teenager, Blume has been a loner of sorts, the proverbial outsider. When someone brutally murders Arturo Clemente, a prominent politician's husband and an animal rights activist who recently exposed a dog-fighting ring, in Clemente's apartment, the flawed but endearing Blume uses his unique perspective to negotiate his way through a labyrinthine minefield that includes crooked cops, unscrupulous politicians, and an ancient city whose very history is steeped in the corruption associated with organized crime. Those who like gritty crime thrillers with a European flair will be well rewarded. (Mar.)
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The appearance of a new police series set in Italy is guaranteed to whet the thirst of international crime-fiction fans, especially when a few sips evoke that heady Italian brew that comes from the smooth blending of a corrupt bureaucracy and a flawed, world-weary hero. Fitzgerald mixes the ingredients skillfully, adding a few flavors of his own. Alec Blume is an American, Seattle born, but he has spent most of his life in Rome and is now a commissario in the Italian state police, though his heritage labels him as an outsider. His ambiguous status plays a role in what appears to be a classic Italian “political” murder—the killing of an animal-rights activist whose wife is an important politician and whose mistress has ties to the Mob. The plot unwinds with some genuine surprises, though not of the simplistic whodunit variety, but the focus here is on character: Blume, of course, but also his colleagues, who are casually comfortable with corruption, as well as the wife, the mistress, and the killer. This promising debut is reminiscent of early Michael Dibdin, and that is more than enough to put Fitzgerald’s series on your radar. --Bill Ott

Edition details

• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1608190153
• ISBN 13: 9781608190157
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 400