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Broken Truths: A Novel
A mysterious murder in present-day Milan intertwines with a cold case from the 1940s in this thrilling novel about film, freedom, censorship, and the persistent threat of fascism.
An acclaimed director, Manlio Parrini, decides to return behind the camera. Having abandoned cinema at the height of his success because he found the industry to be “a place without truth,” he now, in his 70s, has a special story in a film about Augusto De Angelis, a pioneer of Italian crime fiction in the 1930s. The violent death of De Angelis remains, for Parrini, an unsolved case marked by the stench of injustice and blind fascist censorship, a story that needs to be told now more than ever.
Yet just as Parrini finds a producer for his project and begins writing the screenplay with his friend and accomplice Sara De Viesti, another mystery bursts into his the murder of the elderly widow Bastoni, who owns the villa next door to his.
An acclaimed director, Manlio Parrini, decides to return behind the camera. Having abandoned cinema at the height of his success because he found the industry to be “a place without truth,” he now, in his 70s, has a special story in a film about Augusto De Angelis, a pioneer of Italian crime fiction in the 1930s. The violent death of De Angelis remains, for Parrini, an unsolved case marked by the stench of injustice and blind fascist censorship, a story that needs to be told now more than ever.
Yet just as Parrini finds a producer for his project and begins writing the screenplay with his friend and accomplice Sara De Viesti, another mystery bursts into his the murder of the elderly widow Bastoni, who owns the villa next door to his.
289 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 19, 2026
About the author
Alessandro Robecchi
40 books151 followersAlessandro Robecchi (Milano, 16 giugno 1960) è un giornalista, autore televisivo e scrittore italiano. L'esordio nella narrativa risale al 2014, con il noir Questa non è una canzone d'amore (Sellerio, 2014), giunto alla sesta edizione e tradotto nel 2018 in Spagna (Ediciones Salamandra). Protagonista del romanzo e di quelli successivi è Carlo Monterossi, un ex autore televisivo, nauseato dalla televisione, che si trasforma in detective.
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
August 18, 2026
Broken Truths is a fast-paced Italian noir that weaves together a modern-day murder mystery and a historical cinematic passion project. While the book boasts a highly original dual-narrative structure and reads incredibly quickly, it ultimately struggles under the weight of its own ambition, acting as a jack-of-all-trades but a master of none.
The Strengths: Fast Pacing and a Unique Setup The novel’s setup is undeniably intriguing. The plot follows Manlio Parrini, a legendary, semi-retired film director living in the quiet garden annex of a gorgeous Milanese villa. The peace of his retirement is shattered when his next-door neighbor, the wealthy widow Nora Bastoni, is found strangled in her study. As the police launch a quiet investigation into the neighborhood, Parrini is simultaneously trying to launch his grand cinematic comeback: a movie about Augusto De Angelis, the real-life 1930s pioneer of Italian detective fiction who created the famous literary character Inspector Carlo De Vincenzi. The book moves at a brisk pace, alternating between the details of the modern police inquiry and the creative, atmospheric planning of Parrini's historical film.
The Weaknesses: Fractured Focus and Lack of Context Where the novel stumbles is in its lack of clear framing. For readers who are not deeply familiar with Italian literary history, there is no initial emphasis that Augusto De Angelis was a real, historical person. Because the book treats De Angelis's life like a fictional story being researched for a screenplay, realizing that he was an actual historical figure can feel disorienting. This lack of initial clarity actively distracts from the contemporary neighbor-murder mystery, leaving the reader struggling to connect the two halves of the book.
By splitting its runtime between a standard police procedural and a meta-narrative about the film industry, neither plotline gets the space it deserves. The modern mystery frequently stalls to make room for long discussions about screenwriting, lighting, and historical censorship, leaving the final product feeling slightly fragmented.
The Strengths: Fast Pacing and a Unique Setup The novel’s setup is undeniably intriguing. The plot follows Manlio Parrini, a legendary, semi-retired film director living in the quiet garden annex of a gorgeous Milanese villa. The peace of his retirement is shattered when his next-door neighbor, the wealthy widow Nora Bastoni, is found strangled in her study. As the police launch a quiet investigation into the neighborhood, Parrini is simultaneously trying to launch his grand cinematic comeback: a movie about Augusto De Angelis, the real-life 1930s pioneer of Italian detective fiction who created the famous literary character Inspector Carlo De Vincenzi. The book moves at a brisk pace, alternating between the details of the modern police inquiry and the creative, atmospheric planning of Parrini's historical film.
The Weaknesses: Fractured Focus and Lack of Context Where the novel stumbles is in its lack of clear framing. For readers who are not deeply familiar with Italian literary history, there is no initial emphasis that Augusto De Angelis was a real, historical person. Because the book treats De Angelis's life like a fictional story being researched for a screenplay, realizing that he was an actual historical figure can feel disorienting. This lack of initial clarity actively distracts from the contemporary neighbor-murder mystery, leaving the reader struggling to connect the two halves of the book.
By splitting its runtime between a standard police procedural and a meta-narrative about the film industry, neither plotline gets the space it deserves. The modern mystery frequently stalls to make room for long discussions about screenwriting, lighting, and historical censorship, leaving the final product feeling slightly fragmented.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review