Death and the Dolce Vita

A brilliant, methodical investigation of a murder scandal that convulsed the Roman political and social establishment in the 1950s. * * Financial Times * *
Death and the Dolce Vita, a hybrid of history and police detection, brilliantly recreates the details of the Montesi affair...as well as being a thriller, [it] provides an excellent account of the virtues and misdeeds of Europe's most foxy political class. -- Ian Thompson * * Guardian * *
The term "eroticism of detail" could have been made for this book . . . an intense, claustrophobic narrative of murder, mystery and scandal worthy of a Verdi opera . . . a page-turning narrative that explores its extraordinary characters and even more extraordinary cover-ups, evasions and dissemblage, reaching to the top of Italian political life. * * Scotsman * *
This is microcosmic history at its most effective: Gundle finds big stories in the small print, teasing out the implications for city and nation of this darkly glamorous demi-monde of starlets and playboys, gossip columnists and - paparazzi. -- Boyd Tonkin * * Independent * *
Gundle traces a path through the labyrinth of investigation, cover-up and conspiracy theory that followed to show how the peculiar death of a respectable, unassuming carpenter's daughter came to develop into one of the great scandals - and unsolved mysteries - of the Fifties. * * Daily Telegraph * *
What Gundle captures so magnificently is how the case shed light on the intersection between the stars of public life and the dark underbelly of post-war Rome. -- Ben Felsenburg * * Metro * *
An incredible story and a must-read for crime novel fans. * * Press Association * *
Captivating from the first page ... A tragic case, long-forgotten, has been skilfully resurrected in this brilliant expose of murder and scandal. * * We Love This Book * *
A must-read for crime novel fans. * * Oxford Times * *
A dark, dramatic true-crime story. * * Saga * *
Gundle's intellectual energy and his capacity for research has produced a book that vibrates with the peculiarities of post-war Italy, particularly those of Rome. It is a powerful, convincing recreation of a time and a place. * * Glasgow Sunday Herald * *
Inspired . . . the whole gloriously unimproving narrative provides the essential backstory for the Berlusconian bunga-bunga of Italy in our own day. * * Literary Review * *
There is unlikely to be a more thorough and diligently researched account of the scandal than this one. * * Spectator * *
What [Gundle] has done is brilliantly reconstruct the evolution of a conspiracy theory * * Daily Express * *
Thrilling . . . This is a fascinating story, full of intrigue, gossip, fascinating detail and surprising twists. But it is what Gundle does with the story that makes this such a good book . . . written with verve, this book is hard to put down - but it is also a classic Italian giallo (murder mystery), in which the authorities seem as dodgy as the accused. * * TLS * *
The cover-up described in Gundle's brilliant real-life whodunit is eerily close to Berlusconi's Italy -- Christopher Hirst * * Independent * *