The Light in the Ruins by Chris Bohjalian
In the summer of 1955, Serafina Bettini, the only female detective in the Florence (Italy!)Police Department’s Homicide unit, is assigned the grisly death of a member of the aristocratic Rosati family. When another family member is murdered soon after, the evidence points to a vendetta which dates back to the chaotic final days of WWII.
To solve the case, Serafina, who carries her own scars from the war, must revisit a tragic period of her own and her country’s history.
If you are fan of historical mysteries, you’ll enjoy this well-researched, suspenseful, and briskly plotted novel.
WHAT OTHER REVIEWERS SAY
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “At the heart of a good novel is a good story, and this story is a doozy. Bohjalian expertly weaves a tale of how [WWII] split Italy between the people who willingly collaborate with the Germans and the ones who did not.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chris Bohjalian is the author of seventeen books including the New York Times bestsellers, The Sandcastle Girls, Skeletons at the Feast, and The Double Bind. His novel Midwives was a number one New York Times bestseller and a selection of Oprah’s Book Club. Three of his novels have become movies. He lives in Vermont with his wife and daughters.