Assassinio a Villa Borghese
by Walter Veltroni
Although I have been to Rome several times, it was only on my latest trip to the Italian capital that I first visited the gardens of Villa Borghese, which I had previously only known from internet articles and Ottorino Respighi’s Pines of Rome. The day after my visit, browsing at the Mondadori store on Via Cola di Rienzo, I came across this novel by ex-Rome mayor Walter Veltroni and thought it would be a souvenir with a difference and a good read for my flight back.
Assassinio a Villa Borghese ("Murder at Villa Borghese") is the first of a series of crime novels featuring Commissario Giovanni Buonvino. He is introduced as a tragicomic figure. A gaffe early on in Buonvino's career ensured his professional stasis despite years of diligent service. When he is finally called to be given the news of his imminent promotion, it is almost a slap in the face – Buonvino has been chosen to led a new Commissariato responsible for Villa Borghese where “nothing ever happens”. What’s more, he is assigned a team made up of a motley crew of officers whom he ironically refers to as the “Magnificent Seven”. They seem like the incompetent cast of characters from a 1970s Lino Banfi commediasexy. The only concession to political correctness and contemporary sensibilities is the fact that the sole woman on the team (which, in such a movie, would have been played by Edwige Fenech, as conceded by Buonvino himself) is not only attractive but also the most intelligent of the crew.
After a farcical start, the novel changes mood and genre when the body of a boy is found – drawn, quartered and headless – in the park. The dead (and body parts) keep piling up, with the murderer leaving cryptic messages. It seems Buonvino has on his hands a serial killer following some sort of sick, esoteric logic. Suddenly we’re no longer in Banfi territory and we find ourselves in the midst of an Argento-style slasher giallo. The novel continues to tread an uneasy line between comedy and “Gothic crime”, culminating in the revelation of the killer in a theatrical scene worthy of grand guignol.
I wouldn’t describe this as memorable or top-notch crime
fiction, but it was fun to read and it served its double-purpose as inflight entertainment
and unlikely souvenir.
Published November 7th 2019 by Marsilio
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