Il passato non si cancella

A murder-suicide; the accidental fall of a nosey doorwoman; a tenant who dies of a heart attack. These are the ingredients of this crime novel – full of possible culprits and red herrings – set in Milan. The investigator is young Inspector Anita Landi, determined to find the truth despite all the powers standing in her way.

On a warm June day, Milan is shocked by three deaths: Luigi Cortesi and Greta Kampf (the former wife of a plastic surgeon) – apparently a murder-suicide in an elegant apartment in one of the city’s most attractive streets – and the doorwoman (accidental death?) of a nearby building. Anita Landi, a young police inspector, starts to investigate, certain that these three cases are connected. Opposed by colleagues, who have her removed from the enquiry, Anita nevertheless follows her lead. She is helped by Giacomo Valli, the manager of the two buildings, a kind, calm man who lets her stay at his home, as well as by his friend and fellow tenant Francesco Gazzola, a prestigious, respected lawyer who is in the midst of a strong identity crisis.

Anita has to find her way through a complex investigation where nothing is as it seems and everyone is a suspect: wealthy, ruthless brokers, sweet old ladies, unscrupulous plastic surgeons, parents searching for justice, angry, doggedly immature children, confident bloggers, police informers and secret service agents. Because it’s in the moneyed, elegant Milan that counts that a murderer hides, ready to strike again.