JACKET NOTES:  1943. When a beloved politician is murdered in German-occupied Italy. his young widow is the prime suspect. The delicate investigation is entrusted to German Army Major Martin Bora, who was introduced to readers in the critically acclaimed Lumen. Bora is recently transferred from the Russian front and still recovering from wounds received in a partisan attack. Bora, whose political orthodoxy is in doubt, enlists the assistance of police inspector Sandro Guidi, a placid local official who is soon catapulted into a world of deception and intrigue.
These are dangerous times and war is mercy's enemy. Against the fearful backdrop of reprisals and the deportation of Italian Jews, the two men, in turn, argue and collaborate. Questions multiply. Was the dead man a hero or a bigamist scoundrel? What do the mysterious initials penciled on his calendar mean? And, what does the letter scratched in the sand next to his body stand for?
Soon everyone is a potential suspect, from the fascist militia to the widow's former lover, from political enemies to those who know the truth about the victim's past. Haunted by his record of opposition to SS policies in Russia. Bora must watch his step even as he investigates the murder, while Guidi is jogged out of complacency and into love. The solution of the crime is so unexpected. neither man will look at life in quite the same way again.
(© Van Neste Books)