The Day of The Dead

The Day of The Dead (Mystery)

By Maurizio de Giovanni

ISBN #978-1609451875

Europa Editions www.europaeditions.com

363 Pages

$18.00

Rating 5-Stars

“For Readers Who Love A Good Mystery!”

The death of a young street urchin leaves Commissario Ricciardi in a quandary; He knows the boy didn’t die where his body was found, but all the evidence points to natural causes. Yet he knows deep down that it was murder. An autopsy discloses the cause of death being poison, and the case is closed, marked as accidental. It’s thought the lad had eaten rat bait laced with poison. Ricciardi is cursed with seeing the ghosts of murdered victims during their final minutes, but this time there is no ghost to point him the way. He must investigate on his own, if for no other reason than to learn more about the boy’s life, and what eventually led to his death.

The characters come alive, and will grab the reader’s heart. The story takes place in 1930 in Naples, Italy. The police are preparing for a visit from Mussolini, and want no open cases to spoil their records, and deny that the boy was murdered, forcing Ricciardi to take vacation and continue his investigation on his own. His partner, Brigadier Maione remains at headquarters, however, where he can secretly assist his boss without anyone knowing.

The ending was a complete surprise to me. I wasn’t expecting where the boy’s ghost would eventually show up. It was even a surprise to Commissario Ricciardi, who stares in shock in the final moments of the story. For a good mystery, you don’t want to miss the story, or any of the well-plotted prequels of the series by this writer, who has become one of my favorite authors today. Highly recommended.

Tom Johnson

Detective Mystery Stories