A Fine Line Read online

  “When the Italian defense lawyer isn’t doing something, he is thinking, and what goes on in his doubt-stuffed head is nearly always captivating.” Washington Post

  “Carofiglio’s legal thrillers (this is the fourth) stand out for me as being among the very best of the slew of European crime books to hit our shelves.” Daily Mail

  “Temporary Perfections is a first-rate thriller, stylish, witty and suspenseful. I am looking forward to many more from Carofiglio.” Kathy Reichs

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  A WALK IN THE DARK

  Gianrico Carofiglio

  When Martina accuses her ex-boyfriend – the son of a powerful local judge – of assault and battery, no witnesses can be persuaded to testify on her behalf, and one lawyer after another refuses to represent her. Guido Guerrieri knows the case could bring his legal career to a premature and messy end, but he cannot resist the appeal of a hopeless cause. Nor deny an attraction to Sister Claudia, the young woman in charge of the shelter where Martina is living, who shares his love of martial arts and his virulent hatred of injustice.

  A Walk in the Dark, Carofiglio’s second novel featuring defence counsel Guerrieri, follows on from the critical and commercial success of Involuntary Witness.

  PRAISE FOR A WALK IN THE DARK

  “Carofiglio is a prosecutor well known for his courageous anti-mafia stance, which has attracted death threats. A Walk in the Dark features an engagingly complex, emotional and moody defence lawyer, Guido Guerrieri, who takes on cases shunned by his colleagues. In passing, Carofiglio provides a fascinating insight into the workings of the Italian criminal justice system.” Observer

  “Part legal thriller, part insight into a man fighting his own demons. Every character in Carofiglio’s fiction has a story to tell and they are always worth hearing. As the author himself is an anti-mafia prosecutor, this powerfully affecting novel benefits from veracity as well as tight writing.” The Daily Mail

  “At one level an exciting courtroom thriller, but what places it in a superior league is the portrayal of a slice of Italian society not normally encountered in crime fiction and an immensely appealing flawed hero.” The Times

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  REASONABLE DOUBTS

  Gianrico Carofiglio

  Counsel for the defence Guido Guerrieri is asked to handle the appeal of Fabio Paolicelli, who has been sentenced to sixteen years for drug smuggling. The odds are stacked against the accused: not only the fact that he initially confessed to the crime, but also his past as a neo-Fascist thug. It is only the intervention of Paolicelli’s beautiful half-Japanese wife that finally overcomes Guerrieri’s reluctance.

  Reasonable Doubts, Carofiglio’s third novel featuring Guerrieri, follows on from the critical and commercial success of Involuntary Witness and A Walk in the Dark.

  PRAISE FOR REASONABLE DOUBTS

  “The role of lawyer Guido Guerrieri is to take on impossible cases that have little chance of success. The lawyer accepts this case only because he’s fallen in lust with the prisoner’s wife; his efforts to prove his client’s innocence bring him into dangerous conflict with Mafia interests. Everything a legal thriller should be.” The Times

  “This novel is hard-boiled and sun-dried in equal parts. Guerrieri stumbles into a case involving old enmities, a femme fatale and a murky conspiracy. But where Philip Marlowe would be knocking back bourbon and listening to the snap of fist on jaw, Guerrieri prefers Sicilian wine and Leonard Cohen… The local colour is complemented by snappy legal procedural writing which sends the reader tumbling through the clockwork of a tightly wound plot.” The Financial Times

  “Carofiglio, until recently an anti-Mafia prosecutor in southern Italy, is particularly well placed to write legal thrillers, and he does so with considerable brio, humour and skill.” The Daily Mail

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  INVOLUNTARY WITNESS

  Gianrico Carofiglio

  A nine-year-old boy is found murdered at the bottom of a well near a popular beach resort in southern Italy. In what looks like a hopeless case for Guido Guerrieri, counsel for the defence, a Senegalese peddler is accused of the crime. Faced with small-town racism fuelled by the recent immigration from Africa, Guido attempts to exploit the esoteric workings of the Italian courts.

  More than a perfectly paced legal thriller, this relentless suspense novel transcends the genre. A powerful attack on racism, and a fascinating insight into the Italian judicial process, it is also an affectionate portrait of a deeply humane hero.

  PRAISE FOR INVOLUNTARY WITNESS

  “A stunner. Guerrieri is a wonderfully convincing character; morose, but seeing the absurdity of his gloomy life, his vulnerability and cynicism laced with self-deprecating humour. It is the veracity of the setting and the humanity of the lawyer that makes the novel a courtroom drama of such rare quality.” The Times

  “Involuntary Witness raises the standard for crime fiction. Carofiglio’s deft touch has given us a story that is both literary and gritty – and one that speeds along like the best legal thrillers. His insights into human nature – good and bad – are breathtaking.” Jeffery Deaver

  “A powerful redemptive novel beautifully translated.” Daily Mail

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