Costa and his colleagues are forced to pretend to be something they’re not, and that’s not a role they’re comfortable with. I wanted to write a book that had a slightly old-fashioned feel, one that relished in the exotic locations of a part of Italy most people don’t know, played with the idea of identity and was very much driven by suspense and character rather than ‘action’. There are no car chases and very little in the way of violence. It is, I hope, a mystery as much as a crime story. The challenge for Costa and co is simple: how do they get him out alive without giving away their presence as covert police officers in a territory very much controlled by the local mob?

They’ve all been dispatched to Calabria in the south of Italy where the shadowy boss of the local ’Ndrangheta gang has offered to give himself up to turn state witness against his own crime organisation. It was great to be working with the old crew again. In the Netherlands the Dutch edition appears in September from Boekerij. The US edition and the international ebook will be out in November from Severn, and a paperback next May.

Not seen in these parts since The Fallen Angel in 2011, Nic Costa, Teresa Lupo, Gianni Peroni and Leo Falcone return today in a new book, The Savage Shore. It first appears in hardback in the UK from Severn House and in audio, narrated as ever by Saul Reichlin from Whole Story Audio. Hope I can see some of you in the Eternal City in January. The talk will be in English by the way but everyone’s welcome. It’s wonderful such a great book shop is still around and continuing to serve the English language reader in Rome. When I moved to Rome to research the first Costa book I lived not far away - and used the book store as my go-to place for all the reference works I so badly needed at the time. It’s a real pleasure to be returning to Anglo American too. Just turn up at Via della Vite, 102, near the Spanish Steps. Now they’re getting a new lease of life in some sparkling editions for the first two books, A Season for the Dead and The Villa of Mysteries from Black Thorn which appear in January.Īnd what better place to launch them than Rome itself? You’ll find me talking and signing there at the Anglo American Book Store, 6pm, Wednesday January 22.

It’s almost twenty years since I first flew off to Rome to start work on what’s turned out to be the longest-running series of my career, the Nic Costa books.

The Savage Shore by David Hewson