Duca Lamberti
Series (English Title in brackets)
|
VENERE
PRIVATA
The
small ideas of the society of consumption die in the fields of the
periphery and it is always useless to investigate. "Omertà" (conspiracy
of silence) saves the exploiters. This will not stop Duca Lamberti.
|
 |
|
TRADITTORI
DI TUTTI (DUCA AND THE MILAN MURDERS) (Review)
Fog
in Milan. A car stops on the banks of the Naviglio river: inside
a man and a woman who have eaten and drunk too much. The car is
pushed slowly into the river. Duca Lamberti one morning opens his
front door to find a man who says he was sent by Sompiani… But didn't
he drown two days ago in the river?
|
 |
|
I RAGAZZI DEL MASSACRO 
In a classroom a blackboard full of swear words and obscene drawings and the corpse of a completely nude girl, her face reduced to pulp with her clothes all over the room. The victim is Matilde Crescenzaghi, fragile and delicate school teacher. Duca is called to investigate.
|
 |
|
I MILANESI
AMMAZZANO AL SABATO
Donatella
has disappeared. She is beautiful, with long hair and ancient profile.
But she has a weakness: she stares at men and smiles to everybody
that speaks to her. This is why her father keeps her locked in her
room. Duca Lamberti is called to investigate…
|
 |
Other
Non Series (selected bibliography not in order of publication)
|
MILANO CALIBRO
9
A
collection of 22 noir short stories by Scerbanenco. 22 fragments
of life that speak about atrocities, misery, absurdities, almost
all centered in Milan.
|
|
CINQUECENTODELITTI
Another
collection of Scerbanenco short stories.
|
 |
|
LUPA IN CONVENTO
|
 |
|
CINQUE
CASI PER L'INVESTIGATORE JELLING
Arthur
Jelling is a strange type of investigator: timid, introvert, aloof,
but with an extraordinary intuitive ability. He has to solve some
strange cases all set in a Boston that sounds a lot like Italy.
|
 |
|
LE PRINCIPESSE
D'ACAPULCO
Who
killed Princess Alessandra Rudescenko, on the side of a pool at
Acapulco, the dawn after a party where everybody had had too much
to drink? Her mother, Princess Nicoletta confesses perhaps too quickly.
She must be protecting somebody. Who? Domingo Urrales, her fifth
husband, or Heinrich Bergen the widower? Or was it somebody else?
|
 |
|
LE SPIE NON
DEVONO AMARE
"One
can live in love and happiness even in the most desperate of situations"
says one of the main characters of this thriller.
|
 |
|
EUROPA MOLTO
AMORE
Two
girls on a tour of Europe fall into a trap: they are robbed and
accused of murder. Ornella, Italian, and Barbara, German, escape
and run across France, Germany and Switzerland.
|
 |
|
AL MARE CON
LA RAGAZZA
Two
kids in a hot Milan, long for the sea but follow the paths of crime.
|
 |
|
LADRO CONTRO
ASSASSINO
Mario
leaves Milan prison on a rainy morning with no intention of going
straight. After a profitable (thieving) evening, he picks up Caterina
and drives to Orvieto. He goes to the bar leaving her in the car
but when he comes back...
|
 |
|
STORIE DAL
FUTURO E DAL PASSATO
War
and the future of humanity are the themes of these stories by Scerbanenco,
full of those heroes the author loved so much (secretaries and seducers,
betrayed women and disorientated men, generous girls and grumpy
policemen), with their problems, secrets and passions.
|
 |
|
AL
SERVIZIO DI CHI MI VUOLE
This
is the story of an assault on an arms depot in Florida among tropical
jungles, easy women with partying soldiers. The main character is
Ulisse Ursini, two meters tall with a passion for impossible missions
and geographically far away causes that however are close to his
ideals.
|
 |
|
DOVE IL SOLE
NON SORGE MAI
Emanuela
Sinistalqui, a fifteen-year-old of noble origins, after the death
of her parents she runs away from her grandmother's house to go
to Rome to see her boy friend. During the voyage she accepts a lift
from three strangers who have just robbed a bank. The four kids
are arrested and the girl ends up in a reformatory despite the fact
that she is innocent. This is the beginning of all her troubles…
|
 |
|
IL FALCONE
ED ALTRI RACCONTI INEDITI
Written
between 1958 and 1963, these stories speak about places, environments
and characters that we have nostalgically left behind.
|
|
LA SABBIA
NON RICORDA
Summer,
on the beaches of the Adriatic Sea. A man lies in the sand with
his throat cut open. Who killed poor Giannuzzo? A second murder
follows…
|
 |
|
LA RAGAZZA DELL'ADDIO
"He is a honest guy, he will be a good husband for Milla...". This is the start of this story which will have unexpected consequences.
|
 |
|
DI TUTTI I FUTURI DEL MONDO
|
|
MILLESTORIE
The ultimate collection of all the short stories Scerbanenco published in magazines throughout his writing career.
|
 |
|
Born
in Kiev (Ukraine) in 1911, Giorgio Scerbanenco (real name Vladimir) must
be considered one of the fathers of the Italian mystery. Emigrated very
young to Italy with his mother (who was Italian), he interrupted his schooling
for financial reasons. Scerbanenco was engaged in a number of jobs before
he started to collaborate with women magazines first as proof reader and
later as author of romantic stories, soon establishing himself as one
of the best of the genre in Italy. His first mystery was published in
1940 featuring a Boston police archivist Arthur Jelling (later published
with others in one volume entitled Cinque casi per l'investigatore
Jelling). International fame arrived quite late. In 1966 he published
Venere Privata, the first in the Duca Lamberti
series, that can be defined as the first Italian noir mystery. It was
followed a few months later by Traditori di Tutti
(in English Duca and the Milan murders), winner of the prestigious
Gran Prix de la Litterature Policiere in 1968. He died in Milan
at the height of success in 1969, however, possibly also thanks to the
boom the noir scene in Italy is currently experiencing, many of Scerbanenco's
books are continuing to be re-published.