Converging Parallels

Commissario Trotti #1

by Timothy Williams

A small-town kidnapping presents a major problem for Commissario Trotti—and draws us into CWA Award winner Timothy Williams' debut, set against the rich backdrop of a provincial Italian city.

Northern Italy, 1978: Commissario Piero Trotti, trusted senior police investigator in an anonymous provincial city off the River Po, has two difficult cases to solve. A dismembered body has been found in the river, and it’s up to Trotti to figure out who the murder victim is. At the same time, an estranged friend approaches Trotti with a desperate personal his six-year-old daughter—Trotti’s own goddaughter—has been kidnapped. In the wake of the high-profile kidnapping of Aldo Moro, president of Italy’s majority party, faith in law enforcement is at an all-time low, and it’s no surprise the distraught father isn’t willing to take this matter to the police.

Genres: Mystery, Italy, Crime, Fiction, Mystery Thriller

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Timothy Williams was born in Walthamstow, England in 1946. He went to Chigwell School, Essex and the Universities of St. Andrews and Manchester. He has taught at various schools and the universities of Poitiers, Bari and Pavia. He now lives and teaches in Guadeloupe.

Reviews

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the same vein as Michael Dibdin or Donna Leon, Timothy Williams conjures up an Italian policeman solving crimes in a mire of corruption. Trotti the policeman is a particularly upright and forlorn entry into the genre. The crime is convoluted and honestly I kind of lost track of why the criminal actually did it.
Nonetheless I enjoyed the foggy Po valley gloom.

[Emma Craven · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars.

I chose this book because it was based upon two of my favorite things....mystery and Italy.
I should not have chose this book because it was also based upon one of my least favorite things....politics.

I thought this would be the perfect book for me and I was wrong by a long shot. The politics continued from start to finish and in order to understand the story, you need to understand Italian politics. I don't even fully understand American politics let alone another country. The politics over-overshadowed the multiple mystery plots and I didn't find much joy in reading this book. I had a very hard time tying all the loose ends and connecting the dots between who people were.

The aspects that saved this book for me were the characters and the setting. I will probably try to go on with the Commissario Trotti series but I will need a break before I do.

[Martina · Rating 3 out of 5]

1978. Commissario Piero Trotti, a senior investigator in a northern Italy provincial area near the River Po is faced with a dismembered body to identify and the kidnapping of his goddaughter to solve. In the time after the Aldo Moro kidnapping, the girl's father, an old friend, does not want to take the case directly to the police. The front cover caught my eye immediately! Nothing like superb cover design to sell a book!

I did not start reading this book on 9 Nov! I just put it in GR on that day.

Read in chunks and finished on Christmas Eve. More than a 3 and maybe even 3 1/2+. It's a very thoughtful main character. A man caught between changes in Italian politics and life after the years of Fascist rule and the cultural changes of the 70s. The Red Brigades added to the Mafia power create problems for normalcy of any kind. Commissario Trotti is a very deep and thoughtful officer trying to assure justice for everyone. Lots to think about once you close the covers...

[Linda Howe Steiger · Rating 4 out of 5]

A surprise. Very well written, highly enjoyable, Italian police procedural set against the 1979(?) kidnapping and execution of Aldo Moro. If you think Donna Leon does Italian corruption well, try this. The first Commissario Trotti installment, the last honest man in Italy. Includes some long, political/moral monologues which I found interesting, if not thought provoking. Not a page turning thriller, but nevertheless engaging. A little hard to find in my local libraries, but discovered this one deep down in Amazon's Kindle bookstore. Well worth the search, and the read.

[Desiree · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written police novel set in the '80s in Florence, during the time of the kidnapping of Aldo Moro and the Brigate Rosse (Red Brigades).
After reading this book and three books by Marco Vichy I get the impression that all Italian Police officers drink at work (or at least they used to in the past).
Trotti takes a little sip of grappa from the bottle in his drawer every now and than.

Liked the book but for now tend to like the Bordelli novels more. But will read the next book because I want to know how his personal relationships develop.

[William Beauvais · Rating 2 out of 5]

had lots of potential, but fell short. in the works of donna leon and andrea camilleri, we see detectives operating in an unfair world. in so doing they manage their boss and we find that redemptive. trotti could not do this so i found myself disliking him for being such a wimp. coupled with the fact that he seemed like such a bad parent found him to be a man that i had little respect for. not what you want in a hero.

[Eloise · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another book club selection that did not move me. Perhaps I do not have interest in Italian politics of the late 70s. There are too many plot twists. Nothing seemed plausible to me. And the political polemics seem more appropriate to another novel. Since we know there are five books, I found the ending unnecessarily misleading. It seemed like a real ending of Triotti's career. I have no interest in reading more about him and the convoluted city he tries to police.

[Lyle Krewson · Rating 3 out of 5]

No progress, I laid it down.

[Brigitte · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very slow moving. Hard to keep characters straight. Not sure what the significance of the political climate in Italy was insofar as the backdrop. Another horrible library book club selection.

[Mc510 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this book, on account of its setting in northern Italy in the days of the Red Brigades, and I pushed through it, but it was a bit of a slog that got even worse towards the end. Much more flavor of local and Italian politics than of norther Italian culture -- which is the author's prerogative, but not my own interest -- and somewhat convoluted plot, and characters that seemed insufficiently fleshed out to the point that I had difficulty keeping track of the ones that appeared infrequently, and then as the end approached the characters launched into tedious and unrealistic speechifying about the state of Italy and such, for pages at a time. Disappointing.

[Annarella · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was like travelling back in time in this well done mystery set in Northern Italy. The setting, the language, the historical background are all perfectly done and realistic.
I like Ispettore Totti and the characters as I liked the solid mystery that kept me guessing.
Want to read other books in this series soon.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

[Stef Smulders · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Well written but following the predictable scheme of the giallo which is a bit boring. There's not much tension and the end is a bit a deus ex machina. Still, the descriptions are good and a joy if you know the city which it is based upon, Pavia. Realistic dialogues sometimes full of background information which is an artificial trick.

[David C Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crime and politics in an unnamed northern Italian city in 1979, the year of the Red Brigades. Quite good especially about Italian history and culture. A dismembered body in the Po and the strange kidnapping of a little girl intersect. It’s atmospheric and Trotti is an appealing character. A bit talky - characters tend to make speeches.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written, good plot development.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Literary political intrigue

[Ishita Sood · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great introduction to Italy of the 70s and 80s. Could have been a better plot for sure. Loved it for the Italian vibe, the crime not so much.

[Shreya Sridharan · Rating 2 out of 5]

wasn't the book for me. But I rest be assured, i did finish the book and might be a great read for some.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Paul M Floyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

First novel in the series good start

This is the first of 5 novels. Good for a first Novel. The usual twists and turns. Three separate story lines that come together in the end. Interesting inspector and Italy is described well.

[Tony Fitzpatrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

My investigation of Italian Noir continues. Commissario Piero Trotti is a senior policeman in a provincial city off the River Po in about 1978. Italy is on high alert due to the activity of the Red Brigades and the kidnapping of former Prime Minister Moro. Trotti has several crimes to investigate - the kidnapping of a little girl (who happens to be his god daughter), the dismembered body of a local prostitute, and agitation by militant students as elections for this communist dominated City are due in a few weeks. They are all eventually linked - hence the convergence of the title, however Trotti is sent on multiple wild goose chases as he closes in on cause and culprit. As usual with this type of crime fiction there is a dysfunctional family back story - Trotti's wife is a neurotic depressive and a recurrent problem, and his sixteen year old daughter is suffering as well - not stated but it is implied she has anorexia. I enjoyed the novel and its setting, as usual despaired of the picture of Italy it paints (although this one is more political corruption than Mafia involvement), and was intrigued by the depth of national introspection created by the Moro murder and (in 1978) recent history of the Duce and WW II. The ending is however not great - Trotti solves the crime, but finds out that his boss is implicated in a cover up on behalf of the Communist Mayor of the City. Trotti decides to notify the authorities but we have no insight into the implications that arise for him or anyone. Trotti is a reasonably well described character, a little two dimensional in his habits, but no more so than, say, Jules Maigret was in the early novels. I will read the second novel at some stage (there are five).

Footnote: Timothy Williams contacted me to say: "The title of the book comes from Aldo Moro, whom I quote in the text: "The same people, Commissario, you can believe me, who were frightened by Moro's overtures to the Communists, by his 'converging parallels' and who had to have him destroyed at any cost. Politically destroyed.""

[Kris Calvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quiet thriller set in Italy in the 1970s, this is the first in the multi-book Commissario Pietro Trotti series.
Politics, police and family relations intersect across two plot lines— one focused on a child's kidnapping, the other on discovery of a dismembered body in the river. The action in this novel develops more slowly and in some ways was more in the background, relative to character development, than with most modern thrillers/crime novels. But once I gave into the style, I became interested in both solving the puzzle of the crimes and in seeing where the characters' lives took them. Midway through I was thoroughly hooked, and really enjoyed the clever resolution. I definitely plan to read the next in this series

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in 1978 Italy with the Moro kidnapping as the backdrop, Commissaro Trotti has a kidnapping and murder in his own city that he must solve. I do not know how he made the connections because I never would have but he manages to solve them.

This book sets up Trotti's life and world. It pulls in the politics of Italy and the police. He's an interesting man, very low keyed. He gets angry but it's when he should. I hope to read more in this series to see how his world expands or contracts based on what his fellow characters are telling him.

[Mikee · Rating 4 out of 5]

"An outstanding book. The first starring Commissario Trotti ﹣ an honest and (sometimes humble) cop. A rarity. The story is somewhat complex. Many threads. The kidnaping of a child. Gypsies. Body parts in the river. The Red Brigades and the kidnaping of Aldo Moro. It all comes together in the end but it's a wild ride. Masterful.
"

[Paulette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well-written police procedural novel that takes place in Northern Italy in the late 1970s. While I prefer Andrea Camillieri's Inspector Montalbano series, Timothy Williams' book starring Commissario Trotti kept me interested and hard to put down toward the end. I will read more of this series.

[June Finnigan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tense clever police thriller in a north Italian city

Inspector Trotti has his hands full as he battles with lies and corruption, and at home he has domestic strife to deal with. Very good plot and cast.
June Finnigan - Writer

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Politics and child endangerment make this book hard to read