Enigma by the Sea

Carlo Fruttero and Franco Lucentini were a well-known literary duo in Italy for several decades until Lucentini’s death in 2002. For about forty years they co-wrote newspaper  articles, literary essays, and published six groundbreaking and best-selling mystery novels. Their first novel, The Sunday Woman, was made into a film in 1975 starring Marcello Mastroianni, Jacqueline Bisset and Jean-Louis Trintignant. The Lover of No Fixed Abode, Runaway Horses and An Enigma by the Sea were all published in English by Bitter Lemon Press.

“Doyens of the Italian detective story, Fruttero and Lucentini, offer a perfect blend of the comedy of manners and the macabre; in short, very Mediterranean mysteries.” Tim Parks, author of Hotel Milano and Italian Life"Elegant writing in a crime novel is rare and flushed with foreign yet intelligible influence, it deserves to be appreciated." TLS"A seamless sophisticated thriller and the translation reads compulsively. This novel compels intimacy and immediacy. It's also consistently funny. Superbly deadpan observers of humanity and excellent mimics, Fruttero & Lucentini would probably be quite fun to be stuck in a lift with." Literary Review