The Dogs of Rome

Alec Blume is an American, Seattle born, but he has spent most of his life in Rome and is now a commissario in the Italian state police, though his heritage labels him as an outsider. His ambiguous status plays a role in what appears to be a classic Italian “political” murder—the killing of an animal-rights activist whose wife is an important politician and whose mistress has ties to the Mob. The plot unwinds with some genuine surprises, though not of the simplistic whodunit variety, but the focus here is on character: Blume, of course, but also his colleagues, who are casually comfortable with corruption, as well as the wife, the mistress, and the killer. This promising debut is reminiscent of early Michael Dibdin, and that is more than enough to put Fitzgerald’s series on your radar.