Verona, 1943. A wealthy fascist has been murdered. All suspicion falls on Claretta, the widow from whom he had just separated. Before dying, the victim managed to write a “C” in the gravel on the ground where he collapsed. Together with Inspector Sandro Guido of the Italian police, Martin Bormann is in charge of solving the crime, which reveals the challenges faced by an occupied country at war. The German fight against the partisans, the tensions between Italians, and the Nazi actions persecuting Jews are the true protagonists—alongside the rich psychological world of the two investigators.
Ben Pastor—pen name of Maria Verbena Volpi (Rome, 1950)—is an Italian writer who lives in the U.S., where she is a professor of Social Sciences in Vermont. In 2001, she published Lumen, the first novel in a series that continues with Liar Moon. In these works, Ben Pastor blends historical fiction, psychological narrative, and the detective genre.
The series is led by Martin Bormann, a character inspired by Claus von Stauffenberg, a Wehrmacht officer who conspired in the assassination attempt against Hitler. He is a sharp, cultured, aristocratic, and intelligent German officer who, due to his defense of freedom, his Catholic ideals, and his soldier’s loyalty, frequently clashes with the Nazi ideology he is forced to live under throughout his various military assignments.