Almost Blue

'A compact and powerful masterpiece' Guardian 
 
Shortlisted for CWA Gold Dagger Award

With a brilliantly psychotic villain shadowing Simone and Grazia, and a roller coaster plot that never slows...this is a compact and powerful masterpiece... More, please

It's a thrill being in that darkened room with Simone as he eavesdrops on the killer... Eerie

Vivid and impressionistic... A virtuoso performance

Eerily atmospheric, breathlessly paced and genuinely gripping

Carlo Lucarelli was born in 1960 in Modena, Italy. He has written eleven noir novels and his work has been translated into many languages. He hosts a popular late-night television show in Italy that examines unsettling and unsolved crimes. He also teaches creative writing in Turin and edits an on-line magazine. He has written one other novel called Day After Day.

A serial killer is terrorising the people of Bologna and rookie Detective Inspector Grazia Negro is determined to solve the case. She only has one witness who can identify the killer - and he is blind. Simone spends his nights listening to Chet Baker and scanning the radio waves of the city, eavesdropping on other people's lives. He imagines what people are like - based on the 'colour' of their voice - and his acute hearing sets alarm bells ringing when he tunes in to the killer. Together Simone and Negro are the only people able to stop the killer, before he closes in on Simone. 
 
From the diverse perspectives of the detective, the blind Simone and the killer, Lucarelli, master of Italian noir, weaves a gripping thriller.

Carlo Lucarelli

Oonagh Stransky

Full of the tensions and atmosphere Lucarelli is so adept at creating

Ispettore Grazia Negro thankfully remains centre stage...and Lucarelli carries over many of the fascinations of his feted first book

Praise for Almost Blue: 
 
A brilliantly psychotic villain...a rollercoaster plot that never slows for red herrings or unnecessary verbiage, this is a compact and powerful masterpiece, and the first example we have of the Turin school of Italian noir. More, please

Funny, black, fast and nasty, pretty much everything you would want from a modern crime novel

A professional killer is at large in the cities of Italy. Code-named 'Pit Bull', he is a master of disguise and an expert with weapons. He modifies his guns and his bullets are untraceable. His skill with prosthetics, wigs and makeup means that no two victims witness the same terrifying final vision. This is a hunt for a man with no face. Only the picture of a pit bull terrier left behind at each murder can link the crimes. Day after day, Ispettore Negro works on her seemingly impossible case. But when a young man unwittingly encounters Pit Bull in an internet chat room, he provides Negro with the clue that could lead her to her target.

Carlo Lucarelli

Praise for Day After Day

Full of the tensions and atmosphere Lucarelli is so adept at creating

Ispettore Grazia Negro thankfully remains centre stage...and Lucarelli carries over many of the fascinations of his feted first book

Praise for Almost Blue:

A brilliantly psychotic villain...a rollercoaster plot that never slows for red herrings or unnecessary verbiage, this is a compact and powerful masterpiece, and the first e ...

Full of the tensions and atmosphere Lucarelli is so adept at creating

Ispettore Grazia Negro thankfully remains centre stage...and Lucarelli carries over many of the fascinations of his feted first book

Praise for Almost Blue:

A brilliantly psychotic villain...a rollercoaster plot that never slows for red herrings or unnecessary verbiage, this is a compact and powerful masterpiece, and the first e ...

Full of the tensions and atmosphere Lucarelli is so adept at creating

Ispettore Grazia Negro thankfully remains centre stage...and Lucarelli carries over many of the fascinations of his feted first book

Praise for Almost Blue:

A brilliantly psychotic villain...a rollercoaster plot that never slows for red herrings or unnecessary verbiage, this is a compact and powerful masterpiece, and the first e ...

Books by Carlo Lucarelli

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Praise for Day After Day

Full of the tensions and atmosphere Lucarelli is so adept at creating

Ispettore Grazia Negro thankfully remains centre stage...and Lucarelli carries over many of the fascinations of his feted first book

Praise for Almost Blue: A brilliantly psychotic villain...a rollercoaster plot that never slows for red herrings or unnecessary verbiage, this is a compact and powerful masterpiece, and the first e ...

Full of the tensions and atmosphere Lucarelli is so adept at creating

Ispettore Grazia Negro thankfully remains centre stage...and Lucarelli carries over many of the fascinations of his feted first book

Praise for Almost Blue: A brilliantly psychotic villain...a rollercoaster plot that never slows for red herrings or unnecessary verbiage, this is a compact and powerful masterpiece, and the first e ...

Full of the tensions and atmosphere Lucarelli is so adept at creating

Ispettore Grazia Negro thankfully remains centre stage...and Lucarelli carries over many of the fascinations of his feted first book

Praise for Almost Blue: A brilliantly psychotic villain...a rollercoaster plot that never slows for red herrings or unnecessary verbiage, this is a compact and powerful masterpiece, and the first e ...

Books by Carlo Lucarelli

Praise for Almost Blue:

A brilliantly psychotic villain...a rollercoaster plot that never slows for red herrings or unnecessary verbiage, this is a compact and powerful masterpiece, and the first e ...

Praise for Almost Blue:

A brilliantly psychotic villain...a rollercoaster plot that never slows for red herrings or unnecessary verbiage, this is a compact and powerful masterpiece, and the first e ...

Praise for Almost Blue:

A brilliantly psychotic villain...a rollercoaster plot that never slows for red herrings or unnecessary verbiage, this is a compact and powerful masterpiece, and the first e ...