Carta bianca - Carlo Lucarelli

The first novel in Carlo Lucarelli's Commissioner De Luca series is set during a very significant period, and it's undoubtedly something that contributes to its particular mood and character, or perhaps I should say that Lucarelli succeeds in establishing that particular character of a police murder investigation that takes place in April 1945, in the dying days of the war that precipitate the fall of Mussolini's Republic of Salò. It's not a political thriller, even if many of the characters are of necessity connected to the government, but it's also more than just background colour, the period and the politics making any murder investigation that involves an official just that little more difficult and dangerous.

Indeed Carta bianca opers with commissioner De Luca finding himself having to duck as a grenade attack carried out on a funeral procession as he makes his way to a crime scene. Only recently transferred to political police headquarters of the Questore in Rome, De Luca is tasked with heading up an investigation into the murder of Vittorio Rehinard at his apartment. His identification documents show that he is a member of the Republican Fascist Party (PFR), a personal friend of Marshall Graziania. Inquiring into the coming and going of visitors. the portiere for the building reports that Rehinard is know to have many female visitors calling at all times of the day. Perhaps significantly - certainly something that rings alarm bells - is that he recently received a visit from an SS officer and the daughter of a German Count. Stabbed in chest and apparently castrated with a letter opener, the indications are that it is a crime of passion and likely a woman.

With his political background and considering the associations of important people to it, it's the kind of case the higher up authorities want to keep under wraps, particularly in the current political climate. With the approval however of Vitali, a prominent figure in the Fascist party, De Luca's boss claims he wants to make a public issue of it and gives Commissioner De Luca carte blanche to pursue the killer. That's easier said than done, considering the number of people seen entering the victim's apartment (maybe the last one would be a good place to start?) and some missing key witnesses, but there are also aspects of Rehinard’s interests and associations, including drug dealing, spiritualism and possible occult practices that suggest that answers will not come easily or be convenient for everyone.

It's also by no means clear that his superiors want answers, or at least not any answers that are not going to uncover anything uncomfortable for the authorities at the present time. They have their own interests at heart and seem keen to point De Luca down a specific direction. That inevitably places De Luca, who is also only just getting to know his team and how things work in this office, in a somewhat difficult position.

The crime investigation of Carta bianca is relatively straightforward. One of the visitors to Rehinard's apartment, most likely a woman, is his killer and it's surely just a matter of time to narrow the suspects down to the one with the most likely motive and means. And that is how it plays out, but in the meantime, while the crime is uncomplicated, it's everything else going on around in Rome in April 1944 it that makes it much more difficult to resolve. The period, as well as Lucarelli's spare direct writing style, also gives Carta bianca something of a noir character, but it's not just the period. De Luca might be a police commissioner and have other police officers at his side, but he operates very much like his American PI counterparts, a lone wolf, wary of powerful influential officials, less wary of the femme fatales whose charms are in danger of blinding him to the reality.

De Luca keeps his head however, concentrates on the case in hand in as much as he is able, but by the time the conclusion and resolution of the case arrives, the reality of what has happened seems - intentionally - like a relatively small and sordid matter whose that is quickly brushed aside as the Fascist rule of the Italian Social Republic teeters on the brink of collapse.

Reading notes: Carta Bianca by Carlo Lucarelli was first published in Italy in 1990. I read a 2004 Italian paperback edition by Sellerio editore, Palermo. I have to admit that although I have read and reviewed some Italian language comic books (principally Corto Maltese and Dylan Dog) and watched a lot of Italian cinema, this is the first novel I have read in Italian, but it's relatively short at 120 pages and not difficult to read. I still haven't got to grips with all those tricky Italian words however beginning with s (like sfiorare, sbuffare, sfasciare), but will work on those.