A Dead Man in Naples (Seymour of Special Branch, #6)

Lionel Scampion, British consul in Naples, has been stabbed to death while bicycling through the piazza of the Porta Carmine. According to his sister, he had no enemies. The Neapolitan police suggest he was murdered by a bicycle-racing rival. In Naples, every mystery is attributed to the Camorra, a powerful criminal society; could its members be involved? Scampion enthusiastically backed the Italian invasion of Libya and befriended army officers of the newly formed Italian Bicycle Brigade. Now the Foreign Office in London has heard that international politics emanating from Rome might have been involved. Seymour of the Special Branch is sent to find out the motive for the murder and, incidentally, to identify the culprit. ** From Publishers Weekly Pearce's sixth mystery to feature Scotland Yard's Sandor Seymour (after 2008's A Dead Man in Barcelona ) deftly mixes humor with a whodunit plot. A couple of years before WWI, the Foreign Office sends Seymour to Italy to unofficially investigate the stabbing death of Lionel Scampion, a British consular representative. As a diplomat, Scampion wasn't altogether satisfactory, going so far in his enthusiasm as to volunteer to fight for Italy in its war with Libya. Seymour must consider a hypothesis raised at the inquest that Scampion's murder had to do with a rivalry between bicycling clubs as well as the possibility that the killer acted from political or personal motives. As in the author's better-known Mamur Zapt series ( The Mark of the Pasha , etc.), Pearce does better at clever word play and investing his characters with charming foibles than establishing clues to buttress a fair-play solution. Still, this entry stands as the best to date in the Dead Man series. (Dec.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From Booklist British Special Branch officer Seymour is sent to Naples to investigate consulate official Lionel Scampion’s murder. To suggest he is merely on vacation, he travels with his fiancée, Chantale. Did Scampion, an avid bicyclist, die at the hand of a racing rival? Or did he anger a member of the powerful Camorra, a Mafia-like criminal society? Through talking to people and decoding a lottery ticket, Seymour identifies Scampion’s killer and the motive for the crime. Taking place during the Italian-Libyan war in the early 1900s, the story intertwines details of the Naples lottery, the war, bicycling, the Camorra, and daily life in Naples into a leisurely paced but involving story. Told from multiple points of view (the numerous characters are a bit difficult to keep straight), the novel nevertheless captures the mood of early-twentieth-century Italy. Pearce is also the author of the Mamur Zapt series. --Sue O'Brien Naples, 1913. Sun-baked, Blue-skied, And With Its Amazing Bay. One Of The Most Beautiful Spots In Italy - But Also, One Of The Most Backward. Into That World Is Sent A Minor British Consular Official, Scampion, Banished From Florence Because He Has Allowed Himself To Be Caught Up In The Mad Social Whirl Surrounding D'annunzio, The Famous Italian Poet, Nationalist And Revolutionary. Scampion Brings With Him From Florence The New Craze That Is Sweeping Italy: Bicycling. And One Day As He Walks Home After A Road Race That He Has Been Organizing, He Is Stabbed To Death. Nothing Extraordinary About That In Naples - It Happens All The Time - But His Wallet Was Not Taken, A Fact That Is Remarkable. Could Scampion's Murder Have Something To Do With The Racing? Bicycling May Seem Like A Harmless Pursuit But In Italy Passions Run High And Neopolitans, Too, Are Great Gamblers; They Gamble On Anything, Including Bicycle Races. And Where There Is Gambling, In Naples There Is Usually The Camorra, The Powerful Neopolitan Secret Society. But Then The Foreign Office Receives A Tip Off That The Murder May Be More Complicated. It Might Be Linked To High Politics In Rome. And That's When Seymour, The Foreigner From The F.o, Is Sent South To Investigate ... Michael Pearce.