Part of Dalziel & Pascoe, book 9
First published 1988
Andy Dalziel has bigger concerns than the betting pool his sergeant runs on the next Chief Constable appointment. Eccentric Geraldine Lomas has died, leaving her brewery fortune split between an animal rights group, a fascist organization, and a veterans' fund. Her relatives aren't pleased. At the funeral, a middle-aged stranger in Italian clothing disrupts the service. He drops to his knees and cries "Mama!" Could this be Geraldine's son who vanished in Italy during the war? The old woman never believed he died. When an Italian man turns up dead in the police station car park, Dalziel and Peter Pascoe must investigate. The case pulls them into a mystery that spans decades and makes their department's political scheming seem simple. Family secrets, wartime disappearances, and present-day murder collide as the detectives uncover what really happened to the Lomas heir.
Genres: historical-fiction, mystery, crime, detective
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Italy
Period: World War II
453 pages · Paperback · HarperCollinsPublishers