First published 2008
Douglas Preston moves his family to a fourteenth century farmhouse in the hills near Florence in 2000. He learns that the olive grove outside his home was the site of notorious double murders committed by a serial killer called the Monster of Florence. Preston teams up with Italian journalist Mario Spezi to investigate the crimes. They identify a suspect and conduct a disturbing interview with the man they believe is the killer. The investigation takes a shocking turn when Preston and Spezi become suspects themselves. Italian authorities tap Preston's phone, interrogate him, and order him to leave the country. Spezi faces worse treatment when police arrest him and throw him into Capanne prison, accusing him of being the Monster of Florence. Preston finds himself trapped in a prosecutorial vendetta involving murder, mutilation, and suicide. The book reveals how two investigators searching for truth became victims of the very system they trusted to deliver justice.
Genres: mystery, crime, non-fiction, true-crime
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: investigation, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Florence, Italy
Period: 2000s
322 pages · Hardcover · Grand Central Publishing
Content warnings: murder, violence