BarLume

At the Bar Lume, in a small coastal resort near Livorno, between shots of espresso and hands of cards, four old-timers and Massimo, the barman, wile away the time chatting, arguing, and theorizing about the murder of a young woman in their town. The girl's body was found in a dumpster bin on the edge of town. The victim's now notoriously licentious lifestyle has everyone thinking that her death had something to do with the world of drug trafficking and dangerous sex that she inhabited. The prime suspects in the case are two of the girl's nightlife associates. But out of love of gossip and just to pass the time, the group of old friends at the Bar Lume begin to pull the case to pieces, forcing the Barman Massimo into the role of amateur sleuth. Here is a victory for pensioners! The four old-timers analyze the crime and the suspects, contextualizing both, and in the process put a comic spin on their often narrow-minded neighbors. From this investigation, in Malvadis lively and colorful prose, emerges a fascinating picture of life in a small town that, for all its faults, stubbornly resists the devastation of mindless global tourism.

This new novel by Marco Malvaldi marks the return of the investigative quartet nicknamed the "senile squad." At the Bar Lume, with the exception of the bartender Massimo and his assistant, the beautiful and kindly Tiziana, the youngest regular customer is Aldo, seventy-something owner of the Osteria Boccaccio. Then come his longtime friends, each one older than the former. Their principle, indeed their only activity is sitting around at the Bar Lume ostensibly playing cards but in reality analyzing, postulating, gossiping, and chronicling every event that occurs in their small Tuscan town, their talk laced with colorful Tuscan slang and figures of speech. Massimo, all intuition but tending toward inaction, is obliged to investigate a homicide on behalf of his all-too-curious clientele and by Commissario Fusco of the local police. The old-timers provide a running commentary and play devil's advocate to any and all theories concerning the perpetrators of the crime. Their cunning at three-card monte has taught them how to see past appearances to the truth that lies behind. An Italian Comedy, a beguiling Italian mystery, and a vivacious portrayal of small-town Italy all wrapped into one.