A Quiet Death in Italy by Tom Benjamin #BlogTour

"This is not England," said Mario, "this is not fair play and bobbies and Miss Marple. There's no mystery - not to us. Not to any Italian you meet in the street. They'll know, we all know "whodunit"."
"The police, you say," I said.
"But that's not the problem," he said. "The problem is - how to prove it? Now this is where we Italians are beyond compare - fabrication. Manufacturing mystery every bit as fine as our clothes, so even the most obvious facts become obscured, most evident truths remain just out of reach."

When a body of a radical protester Paolo Solitudine is found dumped in the underground canal in Bologna, the police are treating it as an accident. But the locals blame the police, who two weeks earlier has raided the squat where the anarchists live.

A Quiet Death in Italy by Tom Benjamin starts with a scene in the old morgue, which sets the stage for the investigation of the local politics and unravelling a web of lies and deceit.

It's not surprising that the murder of the old anarchist is attributed to the police. Police brutality in Italy is not uncommon. You might know of the case of Stefano Cucchi who died in police custody. He's considered to be an icon of the abuse of power, whose case has polarised the country, and has been heavily politicised.
My husband's home town Ferrara has its own victim of police brutality - a teenager Federico Aldrovandi was beaten to death by four police officers. There were over 50 injuries on his body. The police tried to cover up the horrible death, claiming he died of heart problems. Prosecutors tried to cover the culpability of the police. Police officers returned to work. There were numerous protests in town, and we have attended one of them several years ago.

The premises of the crime allegedly committed by the police rings true. The sense of place created by the author is vivid and true to life. Bologna is the inspired backdrop for a crime novel.
I really enjoyed the Italian setting, and numerous food references which made me long for a proper caffe latte with the pastries.

A Quiet Death in Italy follows a private investigator Daniel Leicester, who's a son-in-law to the former chief of police.
He receives a call from the dead man's lover, asking to look into the circumstances of his death. It also happens, that she is a wife of the current Mayor of Bologna, and there are all sorts if implications to consider.
Daniel's father-in-law, the Comandante, muses, "this is a matter that needs to be handled with the utmost sensitivity - I suppose we could consider it a good result, for our client, if we discover the authorities were actually behind the death. Either outcome, however, could have profound implications for the future of our company."

Daniel is a Brit, who has moved to Bologna with his Italian wife and daughter. When his wife tragically dies in a car accident, he decides to stay behind for the sake of their child who would grow up, surrounded by the extended family she knows.
There are also expectations that eventually, when his father-in-law retires, he will take over the detective agency. "It was a very Italian arrangement - an implicit understanding that I was to gradually take control of the firm while he, rather like a constitutional monarch, would remain titular head".

Being an Englishman, Daniel will always remain an outsider, despite his perfect grasp of Italian language and knowledge of the political system. "An English detective in Italy has certain advantages. For a start, Italians adore the British - or rather, at least before they made a hash of Brexit - deeply admired them for representing everything they believe they are not: sober, pragmatic and trustworthy..."
Certain stereotypes could be a bonus.

Daniel begins to follow the trail, which takes his search back to the 1970s political scene. The past events reverberate through to the present day.
"I wandered along one portico after another contemplating bodies bloated by water, ladies in secret gardens, philandering politicians… Bologna as it had been, as it was now, as it would always be".

Unravelling the web of secrets and lies, Daniel stumbles right in the middle of the corrupt and unscrupulous political establishment. He needs to move fast before he's in danger himself.

The blurb on the back cover of the book recommends the new series to the fans of Donna Leon, Michael Dibdin and Philip Gwynne Jones. I would also add Andrea Camilleri to the list. While not being such a particular gourmet like Inspector Montalbano, Daniel is often portrayed eating and enjoying food.

Tom Benjamin creates an authentic portrait of Bologna, with its fading beauty and dark underside.
"Much of Bologna was like this - placid facades concealing the historic and mundane, beauty and decay. a place with its back turned to the world - what mattered was family".

A quiet death in Italy is the first novel in the Daniel Leicester crime series. It's a great series opener, and I'm looking forward to the next instalment of Bologna's mysteries.

Purchase Links

UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Quiet-Death-Italy-Tom-Benjamin/dp/1472131576/ 
US - https://www.amazon.com/Quiet-Death-Italy-Tom-Benjamin/dp/1472131576/

Author Bio –

Tom Benjamin started off as a reporter before moving to the press office at Scotland Yard and running drugs awareness campaign FRANK. He moved to Bologna where his work as doorman at a homeless canteen inspired him to create English detective Daniel Leicester in a series that serves up equal helpings of the local cuisine and ubiquitous graffiti; the city’s splendour, decay, and danger.

Social Media Links –

https://www.facebook.com/tombenjaminsays/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tombenjaminsays

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tombenjaminsays/


Thank you to Tom Benjamin and Rachel's Random Resources for inviting me to join the blog tour!
I received an e-copy of the book for the purposes of reviewing, and bought a paperback.