Is it curious (not if you know me, I suspect it's not at all) that all my favorite sleuths and detectives are women? Maisie Dobbs and Mary Russell top the list. I am very fond of Miss Marple. And though I have not spent time with her of late there is Amelia Peabody. And the Hon. Daisy Dalrymple is quite lovely and I could happily spend time with her (and she has the dishiest beau). Even Phrynne Fisher gets high marks in my book, though I think she is a rather unique young woman. If I branch out a bit, all of Mary Stewart's and Elizabeth Peters's protagonists are young women who show an enviable amount of moxie. So ladies, no worries really, you will never be replaced, but you don't mind welcoming a gentleman into your midst, do you? Granted he is a little unusual and, okay, maybe even a little taciturn at times. But just give him a chance and I am sure you warm up to him just as I have.
Shh. I'll let you in on a little secret. I even have something of a crush on him.
Maybe you have already met and know of whom I am speaking? He's Italian, which is always a good thing in my book. May I introduce you to Luigi Alfredo Ricciardi, Commissario of Public Safety in the Mobile Squad of the Regia Quesura, or Royal Police Headquarters, of Naples.
Now, let me describe him and you might think, really, is he all that attractive? "Lean, of average height, taciturn. Thirtyish; swarthy, narrow-lipped. Nondescript in every way, except for his green and glassy eyes, and for the fact that he never wore a hat, not even in the dead of winter." He has a peculiar talent, too. I won't be giving anything away--he sees dead people. Maybe that is not a talent but more an affliction. It comes in handy in his crime solving--but only to a point. If you saw dead people, you would probably be a little taciturn, too.
This is Italy. Naples in the Thirties. Mussolini is in power. It's not at all surprising that people are superstitious. That they make the sign to ward off the evil eye. That the woman to be murdered in Maurizio de Giovanni's second mystery, Blood Curse: The Springtime of Commissario Ricciardi, happens to be a woman who can predict the future. Or that she also happens to be a moneylender. But which is it that caused her to be murdered? The suspects are ample and it could go either way really. She has many clients for both her businesses. And this is a working class neighborhood where passions are heightened anyway.
Is it lost love, unrequited love, failed marriages or love affairs gone awry? Money borrowed for a new business that in the end is a failure and means there is no money left to repay the debt? Any number of people living in the Sanità neighborhood might be suspect. But Carmela Calise has rich patrons, too, and they are not beyond the scrutiny of the Commissario and his most trusted and reliable partner the Brigadier Maione despite their superior's kowtowing to the rich of Naples. The crime is an elderly woman beaten to death. A business woman, but a woman with many possible enemies.
It's hard to say what is more appealing with these books. (I read the first Commissario Ricciardi mystery earlier this year and was equally impressed). The way the mystery is presented and plotted and solved, or the characterization. It's not just Ricciardi that is interesting, but Maione and his wife, the entire cast of suspects and then there is Enrica. Maurizio de Giovanni knows how to bring them all alive.
What I especially liked about this novel and what the author was so successful at doing is the intermingling of characters/suspects. Reading about the Sanità neighborhood is like a slow camera panning across a city street taking in all the people, the places, the homes and storefronts, watching people go in and out and pass you by on the street. Each has his or her own story to tell. This isn't just a small neighborhood but a community of people whose lives touch upon each other and it's captured and presented so well.
And then there is Enrica. Enrica sits by her window after dinner and embroiders in the last of the springtime daylight or under the glowing light of the lamp. And Ricciardi looks out of his bedroom window each night to make sure she is there. To peek in on her, this dark young woman with her left-handed stitching. She helps take care of her sister's children, prepares the food and cleans up. The shutters are always open. Enrica is always there. While Ricciardi looks in, Enrica watches for him. She is just as well aware of his presence as he is of hers. It is an awareness that is much savored and longed for. And when she is pulled into the investigation, yes, she had reason to consult with the Calise woman, Ricciardi is struck dumb to a point that Maione, his partner, must question her. And when Ricciardi does utter a question is it taken insultingly by Enrica, misunderstood, misspoken. And then the shutters close on her window. Their despair, these two sad souls who longingly look from afar but cannot seem to connect, is palpable.
It's Ricciardi and Maione. It's the mystery, the solving of a passionate, bloody crime, and the stories of the people of the Sanità that appeal to me. It's the storytelling and the unravelling of the crime. But it's Ricciardi and Enrica who have me most fascinated. I have Everyone in Their Place: The Summer of Commissario Ricciardi sitting on the top of my pile of books for 2017 just waiting for me. The next crime will be solving the murder of a Duchess. Mussolini is going to make an appearance. And I wonder if those shutters will come open once again.