TOM BENJAMIN chats to Paul Burke about LAST TESTAMENT IN BOLOGNA, British private eye Daniel Leicester, the porticos of the ancient city, Giallo, AirBnB and tourism in a university town. 

LAST TESTAMENT IN BOLOGNA: When an old man makes a bequest to investigate the mysterious death of his son, English detective Daniel Leicester follows a trail leading to one of Bologna's wealthiest families - makers of some of the world's most coveted supercars - and discovers that beneath the glitz and glamour of the Formula One circuit lurk sinister interests that may be prepared to kill to keep their secrets. Time and tide wait for no man - or woman - and while biology obliges one of Faidate Investigations' team to finally undergo a long-delayed operation, history catches up with another. Shadowing a suspect along one of Bologna's blood-red porticoes or mixing with the glitterati in the paddock at Imola, the English detective comes to learn in Italy the past not only has a long tail, but its sting can be deadly.

Tom Benjamin grew up in the suburbs of north London and began his working life as a journalist before becoming a spokesman for Scotland Yard. He later moved into public health, where he developed Britain's first national campaign against alcohol abuse, Know Your Limits, and led drugs awareness programme FRANK. He now lives in Bologna. A Quiet Death in Italy is the first novel in his Daniel Leicester crime series, LAST TESTAMENT IN BOLOGNA is the fifth mystery.
Find Tom on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook at tombenjaminsays.

Recommendations:
Tobias Jones - Blood in the Altar, The de Luca Trilogy - Carlo Lucarelli, Loriano Machiavelli, William Boyd, Robert Harris - Officer and a Spy, Trevor Wood,
Naples 44  - Norman Lewis , Louise Fein - The London Bookshop Affair (Feb 24),
Victoria Dowd - Murder Most Cold, The Blazing World - Jonathan Healey,
True Crime Story - Joseph Knox, Byzantium Endures - Michael Moorcock.

Paul Burke writes for Crime Time, Crime Fiction Lover and the European Literature Network. He is also a CWA Historical Dagger Judge 2023.

Music courtesy of  Guy Hale author of The Comeback Trail trilogy, featuring Jimmy Wayne - KILLING ME SOFTLY - MIKE ZITO featuring Kid Anderson.
GUY HALE 

Produced by Junkyard Dog

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