The Monster of Florence
Chapter One
The morning of June 7, 1981, dawned brilliantly clear over Florence, Italy. It
was a quiet Sunday with blue skies and a light breeze out of the hills, which
carried into the city the fragrance of sun-warmed cypress trees. Mario Spezi was
at his desk at La Nazione, where he had worked as a reporter for several years,
smoking and reading the paper. He was approached by the reporter who usually
handled the crime desk, a legend at the paper who had survived twenty years of
covering the Mafia.
The man sat on the edge of Spezi's desk. "This morning I have a little
appointment," he said. "She's not bad-looking, married ..."
"At your age?" Spezi said. "On a Sunday morning before church? Isn't that a bit
much?"
"A bit much? Mario, I'm a Sicilian!" He struck his chest. "I come from the land
that gave birth to the gods. Anyway, I was hoping you could cover the crime desk
for me this morning, hang around police headquarters in case something comes up.
I've already made the calls, nothing's going on. And as we all know"-and then he
spoke the phrase that S ... read full excerpt from The Monster of Florence ebook
