Rome again in the 1950s, another investigation by Commissioner Agostino Clodoveo. Who walks between Lambrettas and Vespasians, Ladies of Mercy and roasted chestnuts, from the villas of the gentlemen to the platforms of the Termini station, from the morgue to the naves of an ancient church. Pursue only one thing: the truth… ‘La Giostra del Perdono’ (Piemme), the new novel by Cristina Stillitano, already crowned Queen of Noir by Amazon readers (VIDEO), is out tomorrow. “The plot, as in the previous novels, is complex, articulated on several levels, with a tight sequence of events in the finale. For the plot, I was inspired a little by one of the masters of English detective stories, Francis Durbridge in particular, his penchant for amazing coincidences and disturbing twists (I love the old Rai dramas that bore her signature),” explains the author, who herself widely known in self-publishing and already with the first installment of the series Le inchieste di Clodoveo, published in 2018, it was recognized by Amazon readers, taking first place in the ranking of bestsellers in the noir category.
“In this novel too – adds Stillitano – I looked for characters that were strong, complex and difficult to decipher. The goal is to gradually reveal deep sides of the character that in the end redeem or at least give a touch of humanity up to the “bad guys”. In the books I always try to keep a touch of lightness. Me like to switch between the two registers, the dramatic and the ironic, and color in grotesque situations and characters.
“The Carousel of Forgiveness,” says the author, “takes place in February 1956 during the famous snowfall. The snow with its symbolism is the leitmotif of a story that unfolds around the small, big thread of salvation”. Along with Commissioner Clodoveo, the protagonist is post-war Rome, “with the rubble just beyond, with the desire to rebuild and forget, to look to the future with suspense and hope. The Rome that discovered the refrigerator, the television, the car, the Lambretta, that is our protagonist’s means of transportation. In this episode, the inspector wanders through a beautiful and surreal city, shrouded in the deep and silent magic of snow”.
“Grumpy with a tender heart, a tall man with a policeman’s spitting face,” Agostino Clodoveo was immediately recognized by the audience. “Perhaps – so the author imagines – precisely because of his imperfections, which distinguish him a little from his ‘infallible’ colleagues. After all, you have to think that being a commissioner in the 1950s meant conducting an investigation in a very different area than we are.” Imagine today. There is no DNA or modern tools. Just tips, stalking, interrogations and whistleblowers trading police mercy for a few tips at the right moment. And so Clovis makes mistakes, corrects himself, sometimes loses. a reader. shocking me a little, called him a “serial loser”. He is certainly no Sherlock Holmes. No detective can actually be one. But he makes up for it with his great stubbornness. And humanity: to see the criminal one must know the man understands first.” The readers helped me with this “meticulous reconstruction work in addition to the source research” by entrusting me with their precious “Amarcord”.
Cristina Stillitano, professional journalist and author, lives and works in Rome. In 2018, he released the first episode of The Clovis Investigation series, “A Sparrow’s Heart Has Death.” The first was followed by two more self-published successes: “La donna a mezzo” (The Investigation of Clovis Book 2) and the third, winner of the Amazon Storyteller 2021 Literary Award “Andrai Tornerai Non Morirai (The Investigation of Clovis Book 3). Each novel advances one year: the first takes place in Rome in 1953, the fourth in the capital in 1956.
