Naples, 1931. A bitter wind stalks the city streets, and murder lies at its chilled heart. When Maestro Vezzi, one of the world’s greatest tenors, is found brutally murdered in his dressing room at Naples’ famous San Carlo theater, the enigmatic and aloof Commissario Ricciardi is called to investigate. Arrogant and bad-tempered, Vezzi was hated by many. But with the livelihoods of the opera at stake, who would have committed such a callous act? Ricciardi and his loyal colleague Maione are determined to discover the truth, but Ricciardi carries a secret of his own. Will it help him solve this murder?
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 In 2005 he won a writing competition for unpublished authors with a short story set in the 1930s about Commissario Ricciardi, which was then turned into the first novel of a series. His books have been successfully translated into French, Spanish, and German and are now available in English.
Paolo Giordano is the author of the critically acclaimed Like Family and The Human Body, and the international bestseller The Solitude of Prime Numbers, which has been translated into more than forty languages, as well as his new publication, How Contagion Works. Giordano has a PhD in particle physics and is now a full-time writer. He lives in Italy. Anne Milano Appel, PhD, has been awarded the Italian Prose in Translation Award (2015), the John Florio Prize for Italian Translation (2013), and the Northern California Book Award for Translation, Fiction (2013, 2014). She has translated works by Claudio Magris, Paolo Giordano, Giovanni Arpino, and numerous others.
Grover Gardner ’s narration career spans 25 years and over 550 audiobook titles. AudioFile magazine has called him one of the “Best Voices of the Century” and features him in their annual “Golden Voices” update. Publishers Weekly named him Audiobook Narrator of the Year for 2005. His recordings have garnered 18 Earphones Awards from AudioFile and an Audie Award from the Audio Publishers’ Association.