A new series of hardboiled crime fiction set in contemporary Naples by the author of the internationally bestselling Commissario Ricciardi series.

They've made a fresh start at the Pizzofalcone precinct of Naples. They fired every member of the investigative branch after they were found guilty of corruption. Now, there's a group of detectives, a new commissario, and a new superintendent. The new cops immediately find themselves investigating a high-profile murder that has the whole town on edge.

Heading the investigation is Inspector Lojacono, known as "the Chinaman," a cop with a checkered past who is currently riding a reputation as a crack investigator after having captured a serial killer known as "The Crocodile." Lojacono's partner is Aragona, who wants to be known as "Serpico," but the name doesn't stick. Luigi Palma, a.k.a. "Gigi," is the Commissario, Francesco Romano, known as "Hulk," is the slightly self-deluded lieutenant. Lojacono, Aragona, Palma, and Romano are joined by a cast of cops portrayed by bestselling author Maurizio de Giovanni with depth and intimate knowledge of the close-knit world of police investigators.

De Giovanni is one of the most dexterous and successful writers of crime fiction currently working in Europe. His award-winning and bestselling novels, all set in Naples, offer a brilliant vision of the criminal underworld and the lives of the cops in Europe's most fabled, atmospheric, dangerous, and lustful city.

Maurizio de Giovanni
Maurizio de Giovanni lives and works in Naples. In 2005, he won a writing competition for unpublished authors with a short story set in the thirties about Commissario Ricciardi, which was then turned into the first novel of the series. His books have been successfully translated into French, Spanish and German, and are now available in English for the first time.

• Feb 15 2016
  The Author Is In A Class of His Own
  — Pulp Den
• Feb 2 2016
  "Sent off to help rebuild a shattered police precinct, Lt. Giuseppe Lojacono finds a surprising degree of cohesion..."
  — Kirkus Reviews
• Feb 1 2016
  "Colorful, fully drawn characters and several intriguing subplots"
  — Publishers Weekly