Bitter Remedy
An Alec Blume Case
-
- £5.99
-
- £5.99
Publisher Description
'Alec Blume is an inspired creation. An American who has become a commissioner in the Italian police, he's a sly, sardonic loner who gives the impression of knowing Rome better than its natives ... Fitzgerald is an elegant, visual writer' Guardian
'A powerful and hugely compelling thriller' William Boyd
________________
There's no cure for murder…
Commissario Alec Blume, on health leave and fleeing his partner Caterina, has retreated from Rome to central Italy. At the Villa Romanelli he enrolls on a natural remedies course conducted by a young woman named Silvana.
But far from recuperating or resolving his differences with Caterina, a feverish Blume becomes isolated and sluggish with sickness. Increasingly ill-at-ease in the stifling environment, the dark history of the crumbling villa and its once-magnificent gardens draws him in.
And when a Romanian girl who works for Silvana's ambiguous fiancé Niki asks for his help, Blume finds himself dragged into the shadowy case of a missing girl, and the secret horrors of the garden's malign beauty.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Fitzgerald's intricately plotted fifth Alec Blume novel (after 2013's The Memory Key) takes the police commissioner from Rome to an unnamed village in central Italy for a holiday that proves anything but restful. Ingesting some poisonous seeds lands him in the hospital, and a car accident further extends his stay. The solicitous hostess at the villa where he's staying, Silvana, visits his bedside, as does her jealous fianc , Niki Solito, who owns a sleazy nightclub. When Blume's presence becomes known in the village, he's approached by Nadia Antonescu, who asks Blume to find a friend of hers, Alina Paulescu, a club girl who's gone missing. Blume's daring leaps of imagination to link clues, as well as inspired investigative help from Chief Insp. Caterina Mattiola, his lover back in Rome, provide a surprising resolution to this puzzler.
