Stop, You're Killing Me!: "[An] intriguing debut novel..."

I Will Have Vengeance: The Winter of Commissario Ricciardi (Europa 2012, Italy 2007) introduces Luigi Alfredo Ricciardi, a 31-year-old Commissario of Police in 1931 Naples. Arnaldo Vezzi, dubbed “the world’s greatest tenor” by Il Duce himself, is found murdered in his dressing room at the San Carlo Theatre just before his entrance as Canio in Pagliacci. Though revered for his voice and his ability to bring a role to life on stage, Vezzi was an unpleasant man who offended everyone he met. As he examines the corpse, Ricciardi hears a voice singing “Io sangue voglio…” (I will have vengeance.) Ever since Ricciardi discovered the dead body of a farm laborer in his family’s vineyard when he was a child, Ricciardi has been afflicted by visions of the dead sharing their final thoughts. Realizing that sharing his experience caused those around him to suspect he suffered from the same madness that claimed his mother, Ricciardi learned to keep his visions to himself, growing into a reserved man with few friends and an uncanny ability to uncover the motive behind violent death. His few constrained relationships are with his co-worker Brigadier Raffaele Maione, his old nanny Rosa, and the left-handed woman he secretly observes as she embroiders each evening in the window of the building across from his bedroom. This intriguing debut novel was a finalist for the 2012 Historical and International Dagger Awards.