Northern Italy, 1985: Commissario Piero Trotti is on the verge of retirement from the police force. He is 56 years old, and though he is widely respected for his integrity and work ethic, he is not widely liked. The junior detectives he works with transfer because he's too hard on them; his fellow commissioner is trying to force him out. Even his family has walked out of his life: his adult daughter has moved to Bologna, and his wife has left him for New York. All signs are telling Trotti that he needs to make a change.
Instead, he digs in his heels. The city is in an uproar after a young girl is attacked in her bed by an intruder. Aided by the one junior officer who still listens to him-a dogged, unflinching female brigadier named Ciuffi-Trotti sets to work, trying to figure out the truth. Praise for Persona Non Grata
"[Williams] capture[s] the Northern Italian milieu with particular insight into
the changing attitudes of its people as a younger generation discards the old
traditions of family life."
-The Washington Post
"This third Commissario Trotti book lives up to the high promise of the first two . . . A stylish thriller-cum-police procedural both clever in conception and brilliant in execution."
-Irish Times
"Williams' prose is stylishly basic . . . [Commissario Trotti] is a splendid creation."
-Oxford Times
"Excellent atmosphere, good dialogue and Trotti a very human policeman."
-The Times
"A dark and gripping novel of betrayal, real and imaginary . . . The disparate threads of this cerebral thriller are expertly-nay, brilliantly-entwined, short jump-cut chapters adding pace without blunting the book's serious edge. The dialogue crackles with everyday inconsistencies, and Trotti, a tortured soul trapped in a shell of ruthless perfection, is both credible and original. Don't retire just yet, Commissario."
-Bloodhound
"Breathtakingly good . . . There are many splendid things about this absorbing, resonant novel: the elliptical dialogue, occasionally reminiscent of Chandler, the care with which minor charactors are drawn; the sureness of touch in dealing with delicate shifts in relationships."
-London Evening Standard
"Well-written, evoking a true Italian sphere."
-Argus Weekender
"With offbeat dialogue, curious sidelights, and a convincing psycho-solution
to the central mystery, this thick Italian tangle is edgily absorbing and darkly
rewarding."
-Kirkus Reviews
"Williams never writes a straightforward novel . . . Here again is a brooding maze for Trotti to traverse to an ending full of surprise."
-Library Journal
"As in the authors's previous novels, The Metal Green Mercedes and The Red Citroen, the principle pleasure is in the hero, the taciturn Italian policeman Commissioner Trotti and the unique world he inhabits . . . Trotti himself is perversely lovable; totally dedicated but not without dark, self-deprecating humor."
-Booklist
"[A] terse but elegant narrative that moves forward in slanting leaps rather than pedantic plods . . . Highly recommended, as with the first two in the series."
-International Noir Fiction
Praise for the Commissario Piero Trotti series
"A delight."
-The Observer, "10 Best Modern European Crime Writers"
"Subtle, tense and gripping."
-Val McDermid
"Commissario Trotti is clever and tough . . . His investigation is fascinating to an American reader because it offers insights into the Italian power structure, which is far more interesting than it is stable."
-Newsday
"Long live Trotti."
-Financial Times
"Superb."
-The Scotsman
"Breathtakingly good."
-Evening Standard
"The ageing moody Trotti is a subtle and convincing creation; the other characters are portrayed with depth and sensitivity, and the Italian at
