Almost Blue (The Book)
Almost Blue, by Carlo Lucarelli (Harvill, £9.99)
Buoyed by the success of Henning Mankell, Harvill is treating us to an impressive array of continental crime, featuring Eva-Marie Liffner, Karin Fossum, Pernille Rygg and Marcello Fois. But pride of place must go to the first of Italian Carlo Lucarelli's Inspector Negro novels, translated by Oonagh Stransky. Still inexperienced female detective Grazia Negro is determined to solve the case of a serial killer preying on the students of Bologna. Only one witness can identify the killer - but he is blind. The reclusive Simone, who spends his days listening to Elvis Costello's Almost Blue, "hears" the city in remarkable ways. With a brilliantly psychotic villain shadowing Simone and Grazia, and a rollercoaster plot that never slows for red herrings or unnecessary verbiage, this is a compact and powerful masterpiece, and the first example we have of the Turin school of Italian noir. More, please.
(Submitted by Kelly Hale)