Bitter Lemon Press

THE STORY: 1989 The Dalmatian Coast. The investigation into a young woman''s disappearance falters as Yugoslavia plunges into civil war. Another three decades will pass before the truth is revealed. In a fishing village on the coast of Croatia, Silva, a 17-year-old girl, disappears one night. She is beautiful and cheeky, admired by many; but the police investigation led by Inspector Gorki Sain reveals a more complex portrait of Silva than her family believed. She dabbled in drugs and resold heroin. The police investigation is brought to a halt as Tito''s Yugoslavia descends into civil war. Only the family of the young woman stubbornly continues the search, amid the upheavals of Croatian society, from the fall of communism, through the 1991-1995 civil war, to the explosion of tourism with its toxic land speculation and corruption. Much happens as if we were witnessing vengeful providence at work in an ancient tragedy, in this case, set off by a sordid crime.

Hunkeler, now a retired inspector of the Basel police force, is hospitalized and sharing a room with Stephan Fankhauser, an old acquaintance terminally ill with cancer. One night, a groggy Hunkeler wakes up to see a young nurse with a ruby ring on her hand administering an injection to his friend. The following day Fankhauser is found dead. Was the injection just a dream? Does the night nurse not usually wear a small diamond ring? There was no autopsy and a quick cremation. Hunkeler resolves to get to the bottom of the matter despite the objections of his ex-colleagues, who want the retired inspector to stay well clear of the investigation.

A former editor of Nuestro Tiempo magazine has been murdered, apparently during the course of a burglary gone wrong, but investigative reporter Veronica Rosenthal has her doubts. She becomes increasingly convinced that her old boss''s death was connected to his investigation of a high-level corruption scandal, a complex web of deceit and power. A gripping tale of intrigue, gradually revealing a scandal that involves influential Argentine businessmen connected to an Israeli war criminal. But it also has a compelling personal angle, as Veronica, now older and wiser, faces an unwanted pregnancy, marital woes and concerns about her father''s health.

Siena, one of Italy''s most beautiful cities, is feverishly preparing for the Palio, a horse race dating back to the Middle Ages, held every summer in the centre of the town. Tempers flare, rivalries between the competing neighbourhoods intensify. Milanese lawyer Enzo Maggione and his wife Valeria are unwittingly caught up in the death of a jockey and a maelstrom of plots, counterplots and bribes surrounding the race. What begins as a listless excursion to a medieval equestrian competition turns into a hallucinatory nightmare for Maggione and his wife, awakening their dormant libido, for each other but, more dangerously, for others in their entourage.

On a stormy summer day the Aosawas, owners of a prominent local hospital, host a large birthday party. The occasion turns into tragedy when 17 people die from cyanide in their drinks. The only surviving links to what might have happened are a cryptic verse that could be the killer's, and the physician's bewitching blind daughter, Hisako, the only person spared injury. But the youth who emerges as the prime suspect commits suicide that October, effectively sealing his guilt while consigning his motives to mystery. The police are convinced that Hisako had a role in the crime, as are many in the town, including the author of a bestselling book about the murders written a decade after the incident, who was herself a childhood friend of Hisako' and witness to the discovery of the murders. The truth is revealed through a skilful juggling of testimony by different voices: family members, witnesses and neighbours, police investigators and of course the mesmerizing Hisako herself.