Comment

May 13, 2021jeh106 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
The older I get, the faster time seems to move. I just finished book 7 in author DAVID HEWSON’s police procedural series featuring Roman police detective, Nic Costa. The book is THE DANTE KILLINGS and it is set in Rome, Italy and San Francisco, California (on the west coast of the United States). The storyline involves a series of murders around the premiere of a movie based on the first part of The Divine Comedy by the fourteenth century Italian poet (known by his first name), Dante Alighieri. The movie is called Inferno not to be confused with the movie based on Dan Brown’s book with the same title. When I began the book, I thought the name Nic Costa was familiar. Turns out I had read and reviewed book one in the series, A SEASON FOR THE DEAD, two years ago. I thought it was last month! A lot has happened between book one and book seven. That means I have a lot of catching up to do. In addition to Nic, Leo Falcone (his boss), Gianni Peroni and Teresa Lupo (forensic expert) represent the State Police of Italy. Maresciallo (Marshall) Gianluca Quattrocchi represents the Italian Carabinieri bitter rivals of the State Police. Captain Catherine Bianchi is the main representative of the San Francisco Police Department. Roberto Tonti is the director of the movie and the producer is Dino Bonetti. Both are Italian but the former lives in San Francisco. They both have ties to the criminal side of Italian society. Simon Harvey is the prototypical movie publicist. Maggie Flavier is the French born, now American, leading lady in the film. She lives in San Francisco. Allan Prime is the leading man in the film. Carlotta Valdes is a woman of mystery who appears in Rome and San Francisco. Bodoni is a horse mounted Carabinieri officer in the opening chapters of the book. Tom Black and Josh Jonah are young American paper-billionaire techies who are investors in the movie. Hank and Frank Boynton are 60-year-old bachelor twins and retired San Francisco firefighters who befriend Teresa when the setting moves from the Eternal City (Rome) to the City by the Bay (San Francisco). There are several murders of people close to the film. Who is the murderer and what is the motive are the questions that Nic, Leo, Gianni and Teresa must figure out. Adding to the intrigue are references to director Alfred Hitchcock’s 1950s thriller movie, Vertigo. Tonti had served as a minor technician on that film to begin his career. The story has romance (Leo/Catherine; Nic/Maggie). There are seven or so dead people with ties to the movie. The author does a wonderful job in setting and describing the various scenes in the book. The dialogue is crisp. The characters are strong. The readers will learn about “tontines” sort of like a Ponzi scheme. Fans of movie history, international mysteries and police procedurals will enjoy this Nic Costa mystery. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! GO! BUY! READ!