Jan Merete Weiss

When I read the first book in this series, These Dark Things, I had mixed emotions. I absolutely loved the setting, but felt that there were problems with the plot and the characters. I'm very happy to say that A Few Drops of Blood have put most of those problems to rest.

As in the first book, the setting is superb. Since Natalia lives close to the police station, she often walks to work, to cafes, and to the shops. As she walks, her policeman's eyes are never at rest, but as she's observing, she's also mentally listing all the many reasons why she loves the city of her birth. Her musings are making me fall in love with the city as well.

The main characters are more fleshed out in this book. There have been consequences to Natalia and Pino's relationship that began in the first book, and we get to see how they are dealing with them here. The most fascinating part of Natalia's background, however, is her relationship to several females who have positions of importance within the local Camorra (crime families). These women have been close friends since they were small children going to school together. Natalia knows that her job requires her to forsake her friends, but she refuses. This insistence gives her both an edge in solving some of the cases she's assigned and a disadvantage because someone's constantly trying to force her to take a side. I admire her for her refusal to abandon her friends, and I also enjoy watching her walk a tightrope as she investigates anything that touches the Camorra.

The only thing that bothered me as I read was the fact that the plot seemed to wander from time to time. Although I was enjoying the scenic route as I turned the pages, I kept wondering when Natalia was going to settle down and actually investigate the murder of the two men. Never fear, Natalia does put all the facts and clues together-- and she reveals some very nasty thorns hidden amongst the petals that make up the beautiful city of Naples. This series is turning into something very special, and I look forward to the next installment.… (mehr)

There is the custom in Naples, Italy of the second burial. Officially, this practice has ceased decades ago, but it is an ancient ritual going back to the Egyptians. Mourners wait for a year for the body of a loved one to decompose, and then dig up the bones and place them in a bone box for the second burial. Neapolitans still have deep-seated superstitions about the dead. Perhaps it was not surprising that people here actually dressed in black so as not to be mistaken by the dead as living souls ripe for haunting.

These days, the few remaining bone cleaners, like Gina, collect the bones from the grave keepers and put them to rest in certain Neapolitan churches where the rite is quietly tolerated. One of these was the Church of Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio. One day, Gina encounters the relatively fresh body of young and beautiful Teresa Steiner, murdered and displayed.

Since the victim is found in a cultural shrine, the case falls to Captain Natalia Monte of the Carabinieri. She is a member of an elite group within the national police. This is a position she has worked long and hard for, becoming one of the rare women to reach this rank and stature. As Natalia begins to investigate with her partner, Sgt. Pino, several lines of investigation open up. Teresa was a student at the local university and also worked for a local crime organization that had the concession for collecting donations from the hundreds of local shrines.

At this time, Naples is a city in turmoil for many reasons. The main one is that the streets are lined with piles of rotting garbage that hinder the passage of pedestrians as well as road traffic, and that are emitting a stomach-turning stench that affects everyone's daily life. To make matters worse, the public health department is reporting an increasing number of cholera cases.

The Camorra, the Naples local criminal organization that runs the garbage service, refuses to collect it or allow anyone else to collect it, because they are at odds with the Mayor, who is pushing a new state-of-the-art incinerator. Those few brave citizens who had the gumption to move the garbage from in front their place of business were soon experiencing their first burial.

Older than the Mafia, the Camorra origins go back to Spain's brutal rule of Naples. It is a much more vicious and ruthless organization than the newer crime syndicates. It has no rules and it penetrates every aspect of life in Napoli. The Sicilian Mafia had once granted family members and innocent civilians immunity. In the case of the Camorra, if an offender were "in the wind," relatives, wives, and even children are not exempt from wrath and vengeance.

The Carabinieri are a national force that came into being out of distrust, to make certain that no ministry would have all the military and police power.To keep the police above the fray, members of the Carabineiri even have to get their spouses approved by their superiors after exhaustive background checks. Being friendly with anyone in the Camorra is grounds for dismissal. This was aside from the very real possibility that if there was a serious investigation into any criminal activities, the police and Carabinieri themselves were at risk, as were their families. The Camorra is actually like a second government, with its own internal rivalries, and it is here that the internal troubles spill out into the street.

Captain Natalia Monte walks a razor's edge in her job and in her life. Natalia, naturally, has had friends throughout her childhood who may now be associated in one way or another with the Camorra. Weiss really brings both Natalia and Pino to life. Pino's character is fleshed out well and is quite interesting. A Buddhist who rides a bicycle to work, Pino is a good balance to Natalia, who is a freer spirit, but who nonetheless is dogged and incorruptible. The next step either of them takes in this, or any other investigation, could be fatal.

Weiss portrays a Naples that should by all accounts be a beautiful place to live, if one is considering the weather, the architecture, the flowers and the food. But in La Bella Napoli, survival depends on walking a tightwire. I enjoyed the book tremendously, and hope to meet up with this intrepid duo again.
… (mehr)

First Line: A large cypress tree arched over the graves, and a few clouds the color of peaches.

Captain Natalia Monte of the Italian Carabinieri may get to wear uniforms designed by Armani, but she's faced the same tough climb up the law enforcement ladder that all women have had to face. Monte works in the city in which she grew up-- Naples-- and Mt. Vesuvius with its varying colors of smoke plumes looms in the distance watching over all.

A beautiful young German college student has been murdered, her body carefully placed in the crypt beneath an ancient church. Monte has been assigned to investigate, but not only are there many suspects, she also finds her way hampered by the garbage strike that has deadlocked her beloved city with towering piles of stinking, rotting refuse.

The setting of this book is absolutely superb. I have seldom read a fiction book and come away having learned so much about a city. Weiss wove a Neapolitan spell around me using threads of beauty as well as ugliness when Monte's investigation takes her to the violent underbelly of the metropolitan area.

What didn't work so well for me were the plot and the characters. There were many plot threads, but the ending felt rushed and too neat for a place such as Naples. Monte's partner, Pino, was a more developed character than Monte, but they all felt "at a remove". The relationship between Monte and Pino took off too quickly, and I felt that it would have worked better if it had taken place over the span of a few books rather than all in the first. Just enough of Monte's backstory is given to make her interesting, and I'm hoping that more information will be forthcoming in future books. From the ending (which doesn't show her in the most flattering of lights), it appears that Monte will be a multi-faceted character who will grow and change.

Since I was absolutely riveted by the setting and culture of These Dark Things, I look forward to reading the next book in the series. I have high hopes that plotting and characterization will improve and match the city of Naples as a setting.… (mehr)