Traveling by train, instead of compulsively devoting ourselves only to our cell phones, we can also do other things, just as we did in the pre-telephone era. Even writing a novel (the first one!) and having it published by a major publishing house like Mondadori. Ludovico Paganelli teaches us., 40 years old to be turned in a few days, a job as a bank executive and many hobbies, as well as commuting for love between Milan and Santa Margherita Ligure for several years: an opportunity he made the most of to bring to life an intriguing detective story set in the Lombard capital of the present day, a volume just released in bookstores throughout Italy.
The plot of “The Seed of Violence”
For nearly thirteen years, Margot Blanchard, a young and charming police commissioner in Milan’s Piazza San Sepolcro, has successfully steered clear of the shadows that threaten to obscure a hard-won happiness, crowned by a dream of rising to the top of the Police Force and a happy marriage that gave her a beautiful baby girl, Isabelle. But even for her, the time to settle accounts with the past seems to have come inexorably. It’s Christmas Eve in the year of Expo and a man is stabbed to death in Piazza degli Affari. That night the streets around the historic center are deserted and there are no witnesses. She is called upon to investigate the case herself.
Assisted in the investigation by Inspector Colasanti and Officer Mantovani, Margot discovers that the victim is one Mario Pittaluga, a financial consultant at the agency of a well-known credit institution. The investigation begins and it soon becomes apparent that Pittaluga was supplementing his salary through unscrupulous speculative activity on the stock market.
Margot steers the investigation on the track of a financial motive, but it only takes her a few days to realize that the victim’s parallel activity is but the tip of an iceberg that hides far more dramatic truths. And it is precisely such truths that overwhelm Margot with devastating fury, forcing her to struggle against the demons of a now distant past from which, however, she can no longer escape. For the terrible facts that gravitate around the murder threaten to tear down in an instant the psychological and familial stability for which Margot has fought so hard, and to bring to light unmentionable secrets that have scarred her life.
Let’s start reading again!
What this young author’s experience should teach all of us, bar none, is that a train, bus or coach trip is not just about sending chats, checking the weather forecast, updating various social…. Instead, one can gaze at the view from the window, listen to good music on headphones, and most importantly engage in reading all those books that we say we never even have time to browse through. Why not start with this compelling debut thriller by Paganelli? It will certainly be a pleasant and intelligent way to reconnect with reading.
