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Lucarelli, Carlo. CARTE BLANCHE. (1990; U.S.-2006). ****. This is a new writer for me, so I’ll recap the info given on the book flap. “Lucarelli is one of Italy’s best-loved crime writers. He was born in Parma in 1960. His publishing debut came with the extremely successful ‘De Luca Trilogy’ in 1960, and has since published a dozen novels and collections of short stories.” This novel is the first in the De Luca trilogy,and introduces us to Commissario de Luca. He has recently transferred into Italy’s police force in the north from the Brigata Muti, a force of the political powers. It’s where he wants to be, but it doesn’t make his life any easier. The time is the early 1940s, when the Allies are pushing north, and slowly recapturing the territory occupied by the Nazis and the Fascists. de Luca is essentially non-political, even though he runs into politics all the time in his job. He is a straight ahead cop. This is his first case as a regular policeman and gives us a glimpse into a world that is crumbling under the weight of profound historic change. A man – a German – is found stabbed to death and castrated in his apartment. It looks like it was done with a paper cutter with only two blows. De Luca must find the killer, even though he is opposed at every turn by his superiors and members of the other seven types of police active in Italy at the time. The dead man was found to have been a pusher of morphine, morphine that had been dropped by the Allies for the assistance of the partisans, hiding in the hills. Connections to various high-ranking officials in the Fascist government and the military throw up roadblocks at every turn in De Luca’s investigation. He can’t even trust his own organization, but decides to find a few good men that he can trust and works exclusively with them. Through his untiring efforts, he finally solves the crime, but is forced to make a major decision in his life when he learns that the Allies have crossed the Po. Recommended.

2022-11-14 17:20