It’s twenty-five years since I first dreamed up a young Roman cop called Nic Costa, along with his crew, Gianni Peroni, Teresa Lupo and Leo Falcone. Over ten books they became a popular series, one that came to a halt as I travelled on to Copenhagen for The Killing trilogy, then four books with Pieter Vos in Amsterdam and later Venice with Arnold Clover and The Garden of Angels.

I knew from my regular mail that, for many readers, Nic Costa never really went away. I deliberately killed no one off in the series. Why close doors? But I’m not the kind of writer who can only write one kind of book with one set of characters, So other places always beckoned.

All the same Nic kept nagging me, and now I’m delighted to tell you he’s making a final return, in three linked books from Joffe, the first of which will appear next April. These are the closing chapters of the story of my idiosyncratic little team from the Rome Centro Storico Questura. After the third book in the trilogy there will be no more.

The linked story that ties together all three titles could not be more topical. Italy is in a state of political chaos. Forces inside and outside the formal corridors of power, a shadowy organisation linking bent politicians, crime lords and figures in the church, are manoeuvring to take over the reins of power and do away with the checks and balances of traditional constitutional government.

Over a few shocking days just before Christmas, Costa and his colleagues find themselves at the heart of proceedings after a controversial politician is kidnapped during the seasonal fair in Piazza Navona. Terrorism…? Or something even more sinister? Costa is determined to find out, and along the way makes a surprising discovery about his own life through a past relationship, a change he never saw coming.

The books will appear in spring next year and then 2028 and 2029. In the meantime if you want to catch up on the original Costa books you can catch up on the originals through a new ebook box set of the first seven titles from Joffe for the special, temporary price of £1.99.

Oh and I know I’m going to get ask this too… where does this leave Arnold Clover in Venice?

Well, Arnold has his own news to announce shortly…

My expat Englishman in Venice sounds a bit different in The Devil in Dorsoduro, Arnold’s fourth outing just released in ebook, print and audio. The actor Owen Findlay has taken over from Richard Armitage as the series narrator for WF Howes.

I sat down for a chat with Owen to talk about what it’s like to follow a giant of the audio world like Richard, how he goes about tackling a project like this, and his approach to narration in general. Owen speaks Italian, which is very obvious from his fantastic work on the book.

I hope this gives audiobook lovers an insight into the vast amount of effort that goes into the making of audio, and tempts you to listen to Owen’s sterling work. You can listen to Owen’s narration on the landing page for the audiobook here.

I should also say how grateful I am for the fantastic work Richard has done with my words over the last decade since Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet for Audible, then The Garden of Angels, The Medici Murders, The Borgia Portrait and The Four Deadly Seasons for WF Howes. His talent and the chats we’ve had over years have reshaped my own writing, and it’s been a delight to watch his own career rise to stage, screen and now being an author too.

I was very lucky to have him before he became the audio star he is now. And I feel very much the same way about the equally talented Owen.

By the way I’m up to number four in Amazon’s International Mystery charts this morning. Many thanks to all of you who put me there. It’s a pleasure to have my mate Philip Gwynne Jones in there too… especially as he’s two places behind me 😂

We’ve been working hard on this year’s Venice Noir festival so now it’s time to let you all see a little of what we’ve got in store for four exciting days from November 12. And remember… all our public panel events are free.

The speaker list this year is again divided between Italian and English panels. Among our international writers are Ian Rankin, Mick Herron, Lucy Worsley, Mark Billingham, Elly Griffiths, Clare Armstrong and Abir Mukherjee. Ian will be leading a Scottish delegation discussing Jekyll and Hyde with Denise Mina and the husband and wife team Ambrose Parry. Lucy will be headlining a discussion about Agatha Christie in the fiftieth anniversary of her death.

Plus you’ll find a bunch of familiar faces, Erin Kelly, Anna Mazzola, Barbara Nadel, Philip Gwynne Jones, and me too. Leading pathologist Suzy Lishman will be back discussing real-life poison cases with Renaissance historian Catherine Fletcher and Hallie Rubenhold, whose most recent book is Story of a Murder, the Wives, the Mistress and Dr Crippen. You can browse the author list here — though it’s not quite complete.

We want Venice Noir to be unlike any other crime festival in the world, so we’ll also be taking a look at crime stories from the Roman era. Our experts for that are Peter Stothard, whose work includes the non-fiction account of the hunt for Julius Caesar’s assassins, Emily Gowers, Professor of Latin Literature at the University of Cambridge and Jo King who holds the chair in Ancient History at Cambridge and is the author of How the World Made the West.

We’re now working on putting together a programme for this stunning array of authors and experts. If you’d like to follow what’s to come — and trust me we have some real surprises still in store — then sign up for the newsletter on the website so you’ll be the first to know. In due course you’ll also learn how to book a seat for our panels which, given the lineup we have, may be essential if you want to make sure you get in.

We’ve added another wonderful Venice location to our festival venues. This year we will be in the historic Ateneo Veneto, above, with its paintings by Tintoretto and Veronese among others, the Ridotto of the Hotel Monaco, Casanova’s original casino, and the beautiful Apollonian Halls of La Fenice opera house, below

We also have festival discounts on offer at five of Venice’s finest hotels — browse the list here.

I’ll be back in Venice shortly for more planning… we promised you a bigger, bolder and better festival this year. And thanks to all our supportive sponsors and authors I’m sure we can deliver.

Hope to see some of you in November.