Via delle Oche (De Luca Trilogy, Book 3)
The final volume in Lucarelli’s De Luca trilogy finds the Italian policeman back on the force, this time in Bologna in 1948. Political reprisals are still the order of the day, as the postwar climate remains tumultuous. De Luca is trying to stay under the radar, his past employment with Mussolini’s secret police likely to derail his career at any moment. Self-preservation dictates that he stay away from a hot-potato case involving the suicide (or murder) of a gofer at one of Bologna’s licensed brothels, but De Luca can’t resist the temptation to follow the clues wherever they lead, which, inevitably, is straight toward a political scandal. Set in the days prior to a contentious general election pitting Communists against right-wing Christian Democrats, the novel may prove difficult to follow for those not familiar with postwar Italian politics, but the general milieu—a cop trying to do his job but running afoul of departmental turf-builders—will strike home with anyone who has watched The Wire (or even just worked in any kind of office). Give this to fans of Michael Dibdin’s Aurelio Zen novels. --Bill Ott