I’ve never been terribly interested in flavours of the month. AI being one of them. None of us can avoid AI, of course. If you’ve searched for something on Google you’re using it already.
There are things about it I hate, naturally. The idea of using technology to create actual scenes of a book is simply appalling. Readers have every right to expect the work they’ve paid for was written by the person whose name is on the cover, not an algorithm. It also deprives an author of the real fun of creativity, which is inventing something out of nothing but your imagination and talent.
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.
If you’re coming to the great Theakstons Crime Festival at Harrogate next month please put 1pm on Saturday in your diary. That’s when we’ll be announcing the programme for Venice Noir 2026… and quite a few surprises along the way.
I’ll be there along with Philip Gwynne Jones. Erin Kelly and Noir’s resident pathologist and Venice fan Dame Suzy Lishman talking about the authors who are coming, what they’ll be discussing, the amazing venues we have, and how to make the most of a weekend of free events in one of the world’s most amazing cities. And we’ll all be around for a chat afterwards too.
Hope to see some of you there. Please note you need to reserve and there is a £5 booking fee (Harrogate’s not ours).
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 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 😂
