DEATH AND THE OLIVE GROVE

Inspector Franco Bordelli (Death in August, 2012) tracks a serial killer as only he can.

When Casimiro reports a dead body he found while foraging for vegetables in Fiesole, Florence’s Inspector Bordelli thinks it’s worth a trip into the neighboring olive groves to check out the dwarf’s story. But the only body that turns up is Casimiro’s, stuffed in a suitcase in his shabby room. Bummed out by his friend’s undignified end, Bordelli retreats to his office to smoke too many cigarettes and ponder the unfairness of life. Meanwhile, someone kills 7-year-old Valentina Panerai and dumps her body in the park, her small corpse left with ferocious bite marks on her belly. Bordelli smokes more cigarettes and wonders why he doesn’t have a woman to kiss him on the mouth when he gets home. Eventually, he interviews the victim’s mother but finds no reason her daughter should have been killed. His colleague, young Piras, complains about his smoking, and Bordelli reminisces about his days with Piras’ father, Gavino, in the San Marco brigade. More little girls are killed, each small corpse marked with the trademark bites. Past and present collide when Bordelli trails a suspect down Via della Vigna Nova and finds his old friend, Nazi hunter Dr. Levi. It takes Bordelli many more cigarettes plus several evenings of making love to Dr. Levi’s beautiful young assistant, Milena, to sort out the grisly case.

As the corpses pile up, Bordelli’s ennui gets increasingly hard to sit through, even though it’s only his second outing.