foreign rights

i cani di via lincoln

un romanzo criminale

foreign rights

I cani di via Lincoln
The dogs of Lincoln Road
Laurana editore, 2010
Pages: 280

A taut superbly written noir thriller.

Palermo’s Chinatown, a night around the end of May. In the “Grande Pechino” chinese restaurant in Lincoln Road two Carabinieri discover a massacre: eight people have been shot dead, a woman is dying. Lieutenant Nino Cascioferro is in charge of the case, together with the district attorney Elisa Rubicone. Six of the dead are Chinese: it’s the family that owned the restaurant. One is an Italian journalist. And one has is hands and face mashed so badly that it’s impossible to identify him. The only survivor, the journalist’s wife, is under strict surveillance at the hospital, still unable to speak with the police.
Under the rule of Cosa Nostra, the city is divided in territories. Cascioferro’s reasoning goes: Lincoln road is in the boss Saro Trionfante’s territory. To him shops pay the “pizzo” and it’s his job to protect them. If there’s a killing to be done, one must ask Trionfante for permission. If someone slips up, is up to Trionfante to punish. So: either Saro Trionfante is involved in the killing, or he will react.
Meanwhile, mafia bosses, old freemasons and corrupt politicians have called a meeting: the massacre in Lincoln road has broken old balances and started up an inquiry that could uncover things that would be best let lie. While the mafia decides that a second massacre is necessary to put things right, Cascioferro discovers what the journalist was working on and decides he had better stop his investigation. But the attorney Elisa Rubicone pushes him on. In the meantime, in the basement of the restaurant where the massacre took place, another macabre discovery is made.

I cani di via Lincoln (The dogs of Lincoln Road) tells about an impossible inquiry: when nobody is innocent the justice is not that of the Law Courts and the destiny of the heroes is but one.

What the newspapers say:

“You just have to read this second novel by Antonio Pagliaro, that’s it […]. It’s a blood dripping noir that takes place in a hostile and stinging city […]. Everything begins with eight corpses and an emotional lieutenant”. La Repubblica

“The novel is costructed as best as one ever could, with a splendid list of characters and of scened that become permanent in our memories. It contains everything: farce and drama, love and melancholy. The only thing if leaves out is justice, which, when nobody is really innocent, is simply impossible”. Affaritaliani

“We’re in Palermo. A Palermo covered with blood by collusion, free masons and the Mafia, red lanterns and Kalashnikovs and hanging dogs, in Lincoln Road”. La Sicilia

“It’s a scary book, seriously scary. No psychopath killer could be as terrifying as this creeping connivance between mafia men, politicians and free masons that flourish thanks to an alliance with the Chinese underworld […].Here we only see the crude reality of a stratifed and expanded delinquency”. Mangialibri

More reviews (in italian)

Biography

Antonio Pagliaro is an italian crime novelist and physicist. He was born in Palermo in 1968. He used to live in Scotland, Denmark, the Netherlands and Rome before coming back to Sicily. As a book reviewer and columnist, he has written on the newspapers “La Repubblica”, “Liberazione” and on the magazine “Milanonera”. He presently writes a monthly column on crime fiction on the magazine “21”. His published works are the crime novels: “Il sangue degli altri” (“The blood of others”, Sironi 2007), “I cani di via Lincoln” (“The dogs of Lincoln Road”, Laurana 2010) and the short true crime story “Il giapponese cannibale” (“The Japanese cannibal”, Senzapatria 2010). His stories are written in a taut and sharp style that resembles Jean Patrick Manchette and André Héléna, very matter of fact and almost cool with a total lack of unnecessary material. Echoes of contemporary political and criminal events are found in his books.