An Enigma by the Sea

“An Enigma by the Sea”, is our third novel by Fruttero and Lucentini, after “The Lover of No Fixed Abode” (set in Venice)  and “Runaway Horses” (set in Siena). This time we don’t have a famous Italian city to provide a back drop to this whodunit.  But we have an exclusive gated community deep in a dark pine forest on the Tuscan coast in which huddle the villas of a diverse crowd of the well off. It's bitterly cold and Christmas time.

This is in some ways a locked room mystery, but instead of a locked door, we have the locked gates of the large property. Shades of Agatha Christie mingle with the spirit of Umberto Eco. Or, better, White Lotus takes on the Berlusconi era. Just like any White Lotus season, the cast list promises intrigue from the beginning; two elderly spinsters obsessed with the forebodings of their tarot cards, a count who's a sponger and a sham, his mistress a wannabe top model, two comedians with severe writers block, a paranoid politician with a generous share of delusion of grandeur, etc.