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The Sad Detective
Ricciardi is quite a lonely person. He lives with his elderly nanny in Naples, is devoted to his job at the police. Murder and cruel crimes create his daily challenges. His cases are demanding and often pushing his limits. He is quite a handsome young man in his early thirties and many a lady is thrilled by him – maybe also by his noble descent about which he himself doesn’t care. Ricciardi, however, is heavenly in love with the daughter of his neighbors. She is also fond of him, but both are coy and demure – so it takes a long time until … by help of his elderly nanny … maybe …
Is he sad? Because of his life … it seems that there is somewhat more. Ricciardi seems to have a unique gift: dead people speak to him. When he encounters a corpse the dead person tells him the last words, thoughts … It also happens when he walks somewhere crossing the scene where somebody died anytime before. It is burden nobody knows about, only Ricciardi, and he … tries to use the last words for investigating, but it’s nevertheless depressive.
Ricciardi lives in Naples in the 30s. Italy’s National Socialism is successful and rules the country. Naples is a city full of people of all colors. There is a lot of poverty as well as a small percentage of richness and abundance. Most of the people seem to fight for their daily survival and the survival of their family, independent of their society level. The survival may depend on getting enough food to prevent starving, however, also to hide family and business secrets against public disclosure which may mean to destroy the treasured reputation.
Ricciardi is often confronted with lies – everybody seems to lie. Everybody seems to have some skeletons in the closet, if small, if big. Driven by his gift to capture the last words and thoughts of the victim he tries to disentangle the net of lies and silence around a case. Well, last words are never clear and distinctive – there is always a wide base for interpretation. So Ricciardi always relies also on forensic evidence and witness statements as well as rampant speculation about motives.
Coming back to Naples … Characteristic for life and people in Naples seems to be a certain viciousness which rules any level of society. Mercy seems rare in this urban jungle. The fight to survive suffocates social co-operation because anybody wants to win. It’s a rough life in Naples.
Ricciardi is an experienced and successful investigator so that prominent murder cases as well as complex cases crash on his desk. Otherwise sometimes he likes to work a case that isn’t regarded as a priority by his superiors – when the victim is poor or the case may lead into the political jungle. He’s got a small team although most of the investigation are his very own actions. The political environment is more and more difficult, but he navigates any challenge.
The novels are complex and suspense-packed. Ricciardi tries to maintain law and order, but sometimes … he regards a case and its solution from a human point of view and closes the case as soon as possible with a result that satisfies his superiors while the evildoer …