Mediterranean Crime Fiction

Barbara Pezzotti teaches Italian and European cultures at Monash University, Australia. She is the author of The Importance of Place in Contemporary Italian Crime Fiction: A Bloody Journey (2012); Politics and Society in Italian Crime Fiction: An Historical Overview (2014); and Investigating Italy's Past through Crime Fiction, Films and TV Series: Murder in the Age of Chaos (2016).

• List of figures; Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. The Mediterranean detective; 2. A place in the sun?; 3. Food for thought in Mediterranean crime fiction; 4. Crime fiction and the past: a Mediterranean Desencanto; 5. Identity in Mediterranean crime fiction; 6. Male gaze and gender violence in the Mediterranean crime novel; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

'Cleverly balancing a regional perspective with a view of crime fiction as a global phenomenon, Mediterranean Crime Fiction opens up new paths to the study of this poly-systemic genre. Barbara Pezzotti successfully explores the facets of this vibrant literary field thanks to a transnational and transcultural approach that proves as theoretically savvy as it is genuinely energised by critical curiosity. The result is a volume that bridges the gap between opposite shores, refreshing our sense both of Mediterranean connections and of crime fiction's potential as a mirror of our times.' Maurizio Ascari, Professor of English Literature, University of Bologna