THE CLASSIC MURDER MYSTERY FROM THE FATHER OF ITALIAN CRIME FICTIONA body is discovered in a Milan apartment, and Inspector De Vincenzi investigates. The apartment happens to belong to an old university friend of his, Aurigi. When the body turns out to be that of Aurigi's banker, and a phial of prussic acid is discovered in the bathroom, suspicion falls on the apartment's owner, and De Vincenzi is agonisingly torn between his sense of duty and his loyalty to an old comrade...



Augusto De Angelis (1888-1944) was an Italian novelist and journalist, most famous for his series of detective novels featuring Commissario Carlo De Vincenzi. His cultured protagonist was enormously popular in Italy, but the Fascist government of the time considered him an enemy, and during the Second World War he was imprisoned by the authorities. Shortly after his release he was beaten up by a Fascist activist and died from his injuries.



Alive with period detail of 1930s Milan, and taut with psychological tension, this is a rediscovered gem that deserves a wider audience



There are moments of unexpected humour... I'm eager to read more by him and the other writers that Pushkin will be introducing to the English language readers throughout the world



Straight away you sense that The Murdered Banker is going to be something special... De Angelis' tone, sentence structure, and language is a wonder... these translations (by Jill Foulston) are the perfect remedy to modern 'in your face' crime



There are nods to Agatha Christie's writing and particularly Poirot... I do want to read both more from the author and more Italian crime from the era



As humane as Maigret, as romantic as Marlowe, as intellectual as Philo Vance, yet stubbornly Italian



De Vincenzi, is an investigator who doesn't stop at the material evidence, but digs with uncommon passion in the psyche of his characters, and the atmosphere in which they live and operate... a rare delight