Review:
"A brilliant, methodical investigation of a murder scandal that convulsed the Roman political and social establishment in the 1950s." (Financial Times)
"Death and the Dolce Vita, a hybrid of history and police detection, brilliantly recreates the details of the Montesi affair...as well as being a thriller, [it] provides an excellent account of the virtues and misdeeds of Europe's most foxy political class." (Ian Thompson Guardian)
"The term "eroticism of detail" could have been made for this book . . . an intense, claustrophobic narrative of murder, mystery and scandal worthy of a Verdi opera . . . a page-turning narrative that explores its extraordinary characters and even more extraordinary cover-ups, evasions and dissemblage, reaching to the top of Italian political life." (Scotsman)
"This is microcosmic history at its most effective: Gundle finds big stories in the small print, teasing out the implications for city and nation of this darkly glamorous demi-monde of starlets and playboys, gossip columnists and - paparazzi." (Boyd Tonkin Independent)
"Gundle traces a path through the labyrinth of investigation, cover-up and conspiracy theory that followed to show how the peculiar death of a respectable, unassuming carpenter's daughter came to develop into one of the great scandals - and unsolved mysteries - of the Fifties." (Daily Telegraph)
"What Gundle captures so magnificently is how the case shed light on the intersection between the stars of public life and the dark underbelly of post-war Rome." (Ben Felsenburg Metro)
"An incredible story and a must-read for crime novel fans." (Press Association)
"Captivating from the first page ... A tragic case, long-forgotten, has been skilfully resurrected in this brilliant expose of murder and scandal." (We Love This Book)
"A must-read for crime novel fans." (Oxford Times)
"A dark, dramatic true-crime story." (Saga)
"Gundle's intellectual energy and his capacity for research has produced a book that vibrates with the peculiarities of post-war Italy, particularly those of Rome. It is a powerful, convincing recreation of a time and a place." (Glasgow Sunday Herald)
"Inspired . . . the whole gloriously unimproving narrative provides the essential backstory for the Berlusconian bunga-bunga of Italy in our own day." (Literary Review)
"There is unlikely to be a more thorough and diligently researched account of the scandal than this one." (Spectator)
"What [Gundle] has done is brilliantly reconstruct the evolution of a conspiracy theory" (Daily Express)
"Thrilling . . . This is a fascinating story, full of intrigue, gossip, fascinating detail and surprising twists. But it is what Gundle does with the story that makes this such a good book . . . written with verve, this book is hard to put down - but it is also a classic Italian giallo (murder mystery), in which the authorities seem as dodgy as the accused." (TLS)
"The cover-up described in Gundle's brilliant real-life whodunit is eerily close to Berlusconi's Italy" (Christopher Hirst Independent)
Book Description:
The true story of Italy's most infamous murder, and the scandal that rocked the country.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.