Commissario Ricciardi Books in Order

In July 1940, with Italy at war, Ricciardi has moved his daughter Marta and her Jewish grandparents to his native village of Fortino, hoping for safety. An old crime in the surrounding hills resurfaces while, back in Naples, Maione fights to save a friend from execution.

December 1939 brings both looming war and preparations for Christmas in Naples. When the vibrant Erminia Cascetta is killed in the apartment she shares with her bedridden mother, Ricciardi and Maione explore families hollowed out by loneliness to find who could not bear her hunger for life.

In a tense Neapolitan spring as Europe edges toward war, Ricciardi is called to a grove where two young lovers lie dead. Balancing fears for his small daughter and concern for antifascist friends, he searches for the thread that links passion, politics, and revenge.

In the sweltering summer of 1934, just as Ricciardi finally seems to glimpse a peaceful future, a high ranking German officer is murdered and suspicion falls on someone from the commissario's past. The case forces him to weigh duty against loyalty and love.

On the rocky shoreline of Posillipo, the body of Father Angelo, a much loved elderly priest, is found brutally killed. While Maione hunts a skilled gang of thieves, Ricciardi digs into decades of confessions and quiet compromises to learn why a man seen as a saint was targeted.

As Naples readies for New Year, aging stage star Michelangelo Gelmi shoots his wife during their nightly act when a live round replaces a blank. Commissario Ricciardi probes jealousies, fading fame and backstage rivalries to learn who really loaded the gun.

A respected shop owner is found dead in the street, and suspicion falls on Vincenzo Sannino, a former boxing hero who lost both his career and the woman he loved to the victim. Under Fascist pressure, Ricciardi must decide whether the obvious suspect is guilty.

A proud countess begs Ricciardi to reopen a homicide case that the police have already closed. Investigating in secret, he moves between salons and slums while wrestling with his own isolation, uncovering how fragile pride and buried grudges can drive people to violence.

During a brutal Neapolitan heat wave and a major religious festival, a famous gynecologist plunges from his hospital office window. Ricciardi and Maione sift through infidelity, professional rivalries, and old grievances to learn whether the fall was suicide, accident, or carefully planned murder.

At the high class brothel called Paradiso, the city's most sought after prostitute, known as Viper, is found suffocated in her bed a week before Easter 1932. Ricciardi must untangle the desires and resentments of clients and coworkers to discover who wanted her silenced.

Just before Christmas, a Fascist militia officer and his wife are slaughtered in their elegant Naples apartment, apparently by two different killers. Following a trail of humiliation, extortion, and betrayal, Ricciardi and Maione confront suspects whose suffering may rival that of the dead.

During the autumn week when Naples honors its dead, a street child is found lifeless on church steps. With his unsettling gift suddenly silent, Ricciardi investigates in secret while officials prepare for Mussolini's visit and do everything they can to avoid acknowledging a murder.

The beautiful Duchess of Camparino is shot in her apartment as summer crowds fill Naples. Ricciardi and Maione navigate Fascist politics, gossip columns, and bitter household feuds to decide whether love, money, or power truly lay behind the killing.

An elderly fortune teller and moneylender, Carmela Calise, is beaten to death in her cramped apartment. Ricciardi and Maione uncover a web of clients and debtors whose futures she manipulated, forcing them to ask who hated her enough to end both her schemes and her life.

At Naples's San Carlo theater, one of the world's greatest tenors is found murdered in his dressing room on a bitter March night in 1931. Surrounded by jealous colleagues and nervous Fascist officials, Ricciardi tracks motive through rivalries, politics, and obsessive fans.