Conor Fitzgerald’s The Namesake (Bloomsbury, $25) is the third to feature Commissario Alec Blume, an American-born investigator based in Rome, who is an anomaly not simply because of his American birth but also because in a system both corrupt and highly politicized, he is neither. His third case begins when an innocent actuary named Matteo Arconti is kidnapped in Milan and executed before his body is dumped in Rome as a direct message and insult to someone who shares the victim’s name: Magistrate Matteo Arconti.
Magistrate Arconti tells Blume that he believes it’s his attempt to exert pressure on a mafia family called the Ndrangheta by approaching the wife of Agazio Curmaci that resulted in the execution of the other Arconti. Curmaci helps operate the family’s interests in Germany while his wife and son continue to live in his native Calabria.
Arconti attempts to recruit Blume but suffers a seizure in the process, and Blume makes a quick decision that sets him on a collision path with the Ndrangheta and, at times, his own conscience, as he attempts to bait Curmaci into returning to Italy where he is not protected by his German hosts.
Further complications ensue, including the unauthorized appearance of a mysterious German agent Winfried Weissman in Italy—a cause for concern as neither the Italians or the Germans are sure what Weissman’s mission is.
Fitzgerald’s story gains strength from his treatment of mafia families as highly structured organizations with their own rigid moral codes that co-exist easily with their willingness to commit horrendous crimes. Commissario Blume is dogged, patient, and self-reliant to a fault, as he battles both criminals and Italy’s system of government and law enforcement.
SHADOW OF THE ROCK (Bloomsbury, $25), Thomas Mogford’s debut novel, features Gibraltar lawyer Spike Sanguinetti, a tax specialist, taking on a totally different problem when an old friend, Solomon Hassan, is accused of murder in Tangiers. Shadow of the Rock doesn’t feature a lawman swimming against the tide of corruption but rather lawyer who has no experience with criminal law reluctantly becoming involved with a murder case.
Hassan tells Spike that he was seen drinking and arguing with a girl at a Tangier beach bar shortly before she was murdered and left lying on the deserted beach. The girl was his boss’s step-daughter. When Hassan learned that he would be arrested he grabbed his passport and managed to flee from Tangiers to Gibraltar.
Spike agrees to help Hassan only if he agrees to surrender his passport and turn himself in to Gibraltar authorities. Spike then agrees to represent Hassan to try to prevent his extradition to Tangiers—a decision that leads Spike to visit Tangiers and Hassan’s employer, Dunetech.
It doesn’t take long for Spike to realize that Hassan has omitted telling him a great many details about his relations with the murdered woman, Esperanza. Dunetech officials Nadeer Ziyad and security head Toby Riddell offer little help but explain Hassan’s role in the eco-friendly company promising to bring solar energy and new wealth to the entire country.
Spike encounters a disorienting blend of blandishments and cooperation from Dunetech and government officials alike, while at the same time his attempts to learn more about Hassan and Esperanza’s last night in Tangiers leads only to dead alleys. A trip to the Sundowner Club, for instance, the bar where Hassan and Esperanza argued, in turn leads Spike to a beautiful Bedouin woman named Zahra that prompts an attempt to kill one or both of them.
Spike is forced into a world of intrigue where much more than his client’s guilt or innocence is at stake, and he must quickly learn how to survive while surrounded by desert sharks in Mogford’s very promising debut.
Copyright © 2012 Robert C. Hahn
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ALL POINTS BULLETIN: AHMM and EQMM are happy to welcome you to their new homes in the blogosphere: www.trace-evidence.net and www.some thingisgoingtohappen.net. • PBS premieres two new Masterpiece Mystery! programs: “Endeavour” and “Inspector Lewis” (available on DVD this summer). • Representatives from Dell’s four fiction titles will appear at the Brooklyn Book Festival, NYC’s largest free literary event, for author signings, giveaways, subscription deals, writers’ guidelines, and more. www.brooklynbookfestival.org. • Fall classes at the Crime Fiction Academy, the first ongoing program dedicated exclusively to crime writing in the United States, begin this September. More information available at www.centerforfiction.org/crimefiction.
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THE STORY THAT WON
PERFECT JUSTICE JOANN CORMACI | 276 words
The May Mysterious Photograph contest was won by JoAnn Cormaci of Hancock, Maine. Honorable mentions go to Lowell Bergeron of Iowa, Louisiana; Wayne Savicki of Wyandotte, Michigan; Brian Spencer of Aptos, California; Joe Adams of Burnsville, Minnesota; Patrick Harrington of Needham, Massachusetts; B. P. Gilewitz of Inverness, Florida; Dennis W. Allen of Garland, Texas; and Bill Iles of Danville, California.
The Newsprint, May 16th, Personal ad:
Missing, presumed stolen, Golden
Retriever, family heartbroken.
Reward for safe return. 555-5564.
“Sammie, that’s it! You shredded our couch, ate a hole in the wall, and scratched our furniture, all in three days! When Meg and I come back from our day on the boat, you’re outta here pal!”
“Yeah, you do that pal, but right now I’m enjoying your lunch of ham and cheese on rye and vanilla cookies. You won’t have time to miss it anyway!”
News Channel 85:
“This morning, two bodies, a man and a woman, were discovered washed up on the sand at Karma Lake. Their boat was also aground. Identification led police to the two fugitives wanted for murder in New Jersey last year. Examination of the boat showed a hole the size of a baseball on the bottom; it looked like an animal had made it. Also destroyed were the life jackets, which had teethmarks on them. Weather forecast after the break.”
After watching the news, Magic lay contentedly on his new bed, satiated after a special meal of steak and a big rawhide bone, happy he brought these two to justice. It took him three days to find his way home, but his love and devotion to his family showed him the way. Of course, a good sense of smell didn’t hurt either.
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ALFRED HITCHCOCK’S MYSTERY MAGAZINE (ISSN:0002-5224), Vol. 57, No. 11, November 2012. Published monthly except for combined January/February and July/August double issues by Dell Magazines, a division of Crosstown Publications. Annual subscription $55.90 in the U.S.A. and possessions, $65.90 elsewhere, payable in advance in U.S. funds (GST included in Canada). Subscription orders and correspondence regarding subscriptions should be sent to 6 Prowitt Street, Norwalk, CT 06855. Or, to subscribe, call 1-800-220-7443. Editorial Offices: 267 Broadway, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10007-2352. Executive Offices: 6 Prowitt Street, Norwalk, CT 06855. Periodical postage paid at Norwalk, CT and additional mailing offices. Canadian postage paid at Montreal, Quebec, Canada Post International Publications Mail, Product Sales Agreement No. 40012460. © 2012 by Dell Magazines, a division of Crosstown Publications, all rights reserved. Dell is a trademark registered in the U.S. Patent Office. The stories in this magazine are all fictitious, and any resemblance between the characters in them and actual persons is completely coincidental. Reproduction or use, in any manner, of editorial or pictorial content without express written permission is prohibited. Submissions must be accompanied by a self-addressed stamped envelope. The publisher assumes no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or artwork. POSTMASTER: Send changes to Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, 6 Prowitt Street, Norwalk, CT 06855. In Canada return to: Quad/Graphics Joncas, 4380 Garand, Saint-Laurent, Quebec H4R 2A3. GST #R123054108.
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Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine Page 15
