Big
Italy pbk out 6th March Black
August About the Author Bibliography
Timothy Williams
Big
Italy pbk out 6th March
Black
August
About the Author
Bibliography
Big Italy
See Review 
After what seems like several lifetimes as a policeman Commissario Trotti
can't wait to retire, but things keep getting in the way. Like Fabrizio Bossi, for
instance, with his camel-hair coat and his doughy complexion. The last thing a cop with
rearing chickens on his mind wants is to be associated with a seedy PI with a bee in his
bonnet about a murdered doctor and a conspiracy theory to match. So what if someone wants
Bossi dead? Ninety-nine times out of a hundred they didn't get round to it....
Big Italy is a rich, complex, ambiguous mystery of politics,
corruption, love - and death. Like Italy herself, this latest Trotti novel - Timothy
Williams’ fifth - is endlessly fascinating.
"Subtle, Tense and gripping, Big Italy explores the corruption that
feeds on Italian life, from the top to the bottom of the pile. The dialogue is oblique and
spare, the breakdowns in communication reflecting the corrosion of relationships between
vivid and credibly drawn characters" Val McDermid, Manchester Evening
News
"Splendidly realised in four previous novels, Timothy Williams'
morose Italian is contemplating retirement... He brusquely rejects a private eye's
invitation to look into the murder of a wealthy doctor. But when the gumshoe turns up with
a bullet through the brain, Trotti's involvement becomes inevitable... Williams'
pared-down descriptions and staccato dialogue are a constant pleasure" Financial
Times
"Big Italy is the sort of novel Hammett might have written if he'd
lived in Italy in the eighties or early nineties. Big themes, lots of cynicism and the
overall impression of powerlessness when faced with corruption... Timothy Williams is a
major contender." Tangled Web See Full Review
"Stylish and excellent. Those who like Dibdin will eat it up."
Lionel Davidson
"Wake up and smell the grapes. Big Italy is a chilling education, a
scalpel-sharp exploration of Italy's body politic. Timothy Williams knows the ABC of
corruption - Andreotti, Berlusconi, Craxi - and is a convincing and compelling
voice." Ian Rankin
"Commissario Trotti is an inspired creation." Sunday
Times
Black August
Called to the scene of a brutal murder, Commissario Trotti of Italy's Polizia di Stato
finds that an old friend, schoolteacher Rosanna Belloni, is the victim. Warned off the
case by his superiors, Trotti continues his enquiries - unofficially. First he must trace
Rosanna's missing drug-addicted sister and before long finds himself involved in the most
complex and puzzling investigation of his career.
Winner of the CWA '92 Award, Black August is an excellent addition to Timothy William's
acclaimed series.
"Of the trio of British authors who write police stories set in Italy - the others
being Magdalen Nabb and Michael Dibdin - timothy Williams is in some ways the best. His
simple but stylish dialogue-driven prose is convincingly Continental, his plotting
impeccable." Time Out
"Commissario Trotti is an inspired creation" Sunday Times
"Superb... His solution could not possibly be neater" Gerald Kaufman, Scotsman
"The ageing moody Trotti is a subtle and convincing creation; the other characters
are portrayed with depth and sensitivity, and the Italian atmosphere is authentically
beguiling. First-rate in every way" Marcel Berlins, The Times
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Timothy Williams was born in Walthamstow and now lives
and teaches in Guadeloupe in the French West Indies. He has previously lived in France (he
is a naturalised Frenchman), Italy, which he revisits every year, and Romania, where he
worked for the British Council. He has written five Trotti novels, Converging
Parallels, The Puppeteer, Persona Non Grata and Black August, which
won the Crime Writer's Association Award for 1992.
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