Marco Vichi, the author who’s sold over 1 million copies of his books in Italy alone, returns to novel writing with a new and possibly final chapter of the successful series about Inspector Bordelli.

Bordelli is only a week away from retirement when he has to tackle what is perhaps the most difficult case of his career. The body of a beautiful young woman is discovered in the pebbled bed of a stream just a few kilometres from his home. Nobody has reported the missing woman, there’s no ID and no witness. The fateful 2 April – Bordelli’s birthday and the day he’s supposed to retire – comes, but the inspector asks for a deferment: he doesn’t want to leave behind an unresolved case. He decides to risk everything so has the picture of the unknown woman published in a national daily. A testimony comes that puts the inspector on the right track. So Bordelli can calmly retire but not without asking himself What now?

Cynical, surly and disenchanted: chief inspector Bordelli investigates during the worrisome and revolutionary atmosphere of the sixties, a time so far away yet so similar to our own.

January 1970. In April, Chief Inspector Bordelli is retiring after almost a quarter of a century in the police, and he still doesn’t know what to expect, unable to picture how he is going to react to this complete change. Meanwhile, however, he’s on duty and there’s no time to think or ask himself too many questions: there’s been a brutal murder in a street in central Florence. Will this heinous crime be his last case? Above all, will he be able to solve it? Bordelli and young Piras, who, meanwhile, has become inspector, work closely, driven, as ever, by their sense of justice, and, on this occasion, also by the unbearable futility of the murder. The months go by, spring arrives and the date of retirement approaches. Bordelli’s relationship with the beautiful Eleonora seems to go from strength to strength. And, of course, there is the dinner at Franco Bordelli’s home, where, as usual, everyone tells a story. But one morning the chief inspector receives a phone call from police headquarters… another murder?

From their homes, twenty-six of the most prominent writers in the Italian landscape have given a meaning to these days by choosing to tackle this emergency also with the weapons of literature.

R. Armeni, S. Auci, A. Basso, B. Bellomo, G. Biondillo, C. Bonvicini, F. Bosco, M. Buticchi, C. Caboni, D. Carrisi, A. Dalton, G. Festa, A. Frontani, E. Galiano, A. Gazzola, E. Gnone, M. Gramellini, J. Lahiri, F. Noiville, C. Sánchez, G. Sundas, S. Truzzi, I. Tuti, H. Tuzzi, M. Vichi, A. Vitali.

Nowadays, fear has a new name: Covid-19. The only way to defeat it is to stay at home.  Within the four walls that have always shielded us but which have now become impassable boundaries.

They have become almost an enemy.

And yet, day after day, those who always work with words have discovered that rooms, windows, and even the remotest corners of their homes are wings to carry them out into the world. Every one of them has therefore chosen a way to give life to this magic.

From their homes, twenty-six of the most prominent writers in the Italian landscape have given a meaning to these days by choosing to tackle this emergency also with the weapons of literature.

So as to take their daily lives to the readers who love them.

And they decided to do this together with the publishing house Garzanti by donating all the proceeds to the Papa Giovanni XXIII hospital in Bergamo.

Some decided to write about their days, their established routines, about novelties that make you smile. About the tears they cannot stop but also about the force of nature that dissolves the lump in your throat. About forced cohabitation, as well the distancing from people who are dear to you, that feels unbearable. Others write about neighbours who were once strangers but are no longer so, and work that has changed its tools but not its substance. Some admit their error in thinking that it could not all be true or else lend a voice to animals who, on the contrary, are glad this is all true. Others entrust their thoughts about these strange days to beloved characters they have created. Everyone is certain that we will emerge from this more aware of what is truly important, and we will meet, hug, and soon take walks all together. They are certain that solidarity will be the currency we will carry with us and no longer be able to do without.

They are all convinced that words, books and stories bring us together. They create invisible links that break all barriers. When we read we are never alone. And we are strong. And everything appears as it will be. Because all shall be well.

Cynical, surly and disenchanted: chief inspector Bordelli investigates during the worrisome and revolutionary atmosphere of the sixties, a time so far away yet so similar to our own.

It is April 1968, and Florence like the rest of Italy is shaken by student demonstrations.

In contrast with the fermenting world around him, Inspector Bordelli is going through a sort of internal spring revolution and he finally feels at peace. The weight of his past seems to have finally lifted, and he is willing to take life more lightly. Even his relationship with Eleonora seems to have become more stable.

This moment of calm however is suddenly interrupted by a horrendous murder, seemingly straightforward to solve. It will however bring Bordelli face to face with the families of the Florentine “Haute Bourgeoisie”, in which the children directly oppose their fathers and make no compromises, and where it is difficult to understand on what side evil lies.

A family cloaked in secrets. A powerful and beguiling woman. A unique setting. Inspector Bordelli is back to solve one of the most difficult cases of his entire career.

Florence, winter 1967, a year after the flood devastated the city. Inspector Bordelli has to solve a really intricate mystery: the murder of a wealthy industrialist, Antonio Migliorini, found dead in his own villa in the hills of Florence and killed with a foil from the victim’s collection. He was widely loved and respected by everyone. Widowed for several years, Migliorini easily fell under the spell of women. Bordelli patiently starts to retrace the victim’s last days and to speak with relatives and friends, but it all leads to nothing. One day, he bumps into a shabby old man who looks familiar… His name is Bruno Arcieri, a retired colonel and former member of the Secret Service, whom Bordelli met before for professional reasons. It looks like the colonel is hiding himself, but who from? How has he ended up in this situation? Bordelli invites him to stay in his country house. Sitting by the fire, the two men start sharing their secrets like old friends. Arcieri tells Bordelli what lies behind his desperate situation and what he is determined to do even at the cost of his life… Moreover, just like a heaven-sent help, the colonel will be able to identify a mysterious woman Bordelli doesn’t even know where to look for, a woman who will disclose the detail he needs to track down the killer…

Marco Vichi, an author who has sold over 1 million copies in Italy alone, brings back the newly-retired Chief Inspector Bordelli with a gripping new chapter of his successful series.

Chief Inspector Bordelli is retired. But melancholy makes him think of the past and about his first case: it was 1947 and he was investigating the murder of a young man stabbed to death, the son of a Fascist industrialist. At the time, he had got nowhere and then been ordered to drop the case, but now he wants to try solving it, albeit unofficially… Meanwhile, he receives a phone call from a friend who, twenty years earlier, after telling him about a complex and painful family matter, had disappeared and now invites him for dinner. While waiting to see him, Bordelli reminisces about that story, which began in the 1920s. Only the past hasn’t yet stopped knocking on Bordelli’s door: by chance, he meets a woman whom he (then known as “the Raven”) saved from injustice on the part of a Fascist…