An Enigma by the Sea

An Enigma by the Sea - Paperback

$17.95
$17.95
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An Enigma by the Sea
  • An Enigma by the Sea
An Enigma by the Sea - Paperback

An Enigma by the Sea - Paperback

by Carlo Fruttero , Franco Lucentini
$17.95
$17.95

Book Overview

"Doyens of the Italian detective story, Fruttero and Lucentini, offer a perfect blend of the comedy of manners and the macabre; in short, very Mediterranean mysteries." Tim Parks, author of Hotel Milano and Italian Life

In an exclusive resort on the Tuscan coast, the wealthy elite gather at their luxurious second homes for Christmas. Amid this frosty holiday idyll, a husband and wife vanish from their heavily guarded villa, and the body of Count Delaude, a dubious aristocrat, washes up on the shore, battered to death.

The ensemble cast brims with intrigue: The count, a sponger and a sham had arrived under cover of dark with a beautiful young woman scheming to be a top model. Two comedians seclude themselves as they try to overcome a writing block. One depressive, Signor Monforti, a retired academic, tries to woo a beautiful divorcee, while another, a woman this time, prepares to leave her husband. Two elderly spinsters and their Filipina maid are aghast at the awful predictions of their Tarot pack. With the local police floundering, it falls to Monforti to unravel the mystery, triumphing as an amateur detective.

John Powers on NPR's Fresh Air: " Brilliant. Masters of the light fantastic, Fruttero and Lucentini roll out their mystery with the slyest of touches."

"A sophisticated thriller--consistently funny. These are superbly deadpan observers of humanity." Literary Review

A juicily acerbic mystery that's more lurid soap opera than whodunit. ----Kirkus Reviews"In this well-plotted thriller by Italian duo Fruttero and Lucentini, translated into English for the first time, a private seaside idyll for the wealthy and reclusive becomes the scene of a shocking crime. Featuring a quirky ensemble cast and an erudite amateur detective, this charming tale is sure to please a wide variety of readers."---CrimeReads
ISBN9781916725195
Author Carlo Fruttero , Franco Lucentini
PublisherBitter Lemon Press
GenreLiterature
FormatPaperback
PublishedApril 2026
LanguageENG- English
Pages416
Weight1.0 lb
Target AudienceAdults
Print SizeStandard Print

Related Subjects

Crime Fiction Mystery & Detective Psychological Thrillers

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More by Carlo Fruttero

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By Charles Dickens, Carlo Fruttero, and Franco Lucentini
About Carlo Fruttero
Authors: Carlo Fruttero and Franco Lucentini were a well-known literary duo in Italy for several decades until Lucentini's death (by suicide) in 2002. For about forty years they co-wrote newspaper articles, literary essays, and published six groundbreaking and best-selling mystery novels. Their first novel, The Sunday Woman, was made into a film in 1975 starring Marcello Mastroianni, Jacqueline Bisset and Jean-Louis Trintignant. Runaway Horses and The Lover of No Fixed Abode, first published in 1980s, are the third and fourth, respectively of their novels. Translator: Gregory Dowling grew up in Bristol, UK. He read English Literature at Christ Church, Oxford. He moved to Italy after graduating and has lived there since 1979, teaching in Naples, Siena, Verona and eventually Venice, where he has lived since 1981. He published four thrillers in the 1980s and 1990s and then devoted himself to academic work and translation. He returned to fiction in 2015, with his novel set in 18th-century Venice, Ascension. The Four Horsemen, the sequel to Ascension, came out in 2017.
About Franco Lucentini
Authors: Carlo Fruttero and Franco Lucentini were a well-known literary duo in Italy for several decades until Lucentini's death (by suicide) in 2002. For about forty years they co-wrote newspaper articles, literary essays, and published six groundbreaking and best-selling mystery novels. Their first novel, The Sunday Woman, was made into a film in 1975 starring Marcello Mastroianni, Jacqueline Bisset and Jean-Louis Trintignant. Runaway Horses and The Lover of No Fixed Abode, first published in 1980s, are the third and fourth, respectively of their novels. Translator: Gregory Dowling grew up in Bristol, UK. He read English Literature at Christ Church, Oxford. He moved to Italy after graduating and has lived there since 1979, teaching in Naples, Siena, Verona and eventually Venice, where he has lived since 1981. He published four thrillers in the 1980s and 1990s and then devoted himself to academic work and translation. He returned to fiction in 2015, with his novel set in 18th-century Venice, Ascension. The Four Horsemen, the sequel to Ascension, came out in 2017.

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