Glass Souls

June 5, 2017
Love, longing, and loss suffuse de Giovanni's elegiac, autumnal eighth Commissario Ricciardi mystery set in 1930s Naples (after 2015's The Bottom of Your Heart). Mourning the recent death of Rosa, the only mother figure he has ever known, Ricciardi confronts the unremitting solitude stretching before him. He has waited too long to approach Enrica, the young neighbor who has quietly captivated him, since she now appears involved with a dashing German army officer. There's not even a pressing murder investigation to distract himâuntil, despite the protestations of stalwart sidekick Brigadier Raffaele Maione, he yields to the pleas of the impoverished but dignified Contessa of Roccaspina to make some unofficial inquiries into a case that has already been closed, after her gambler husband confessed to a killing she knows he didn't commit. Though Ricciardi risks infuriating his bossesâand unknowingly even greater danger from the Fascist forces who have him under surveillanceâhe can't resist the conundrum. Nor in all likelihood will readers.