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The Monster of Florence

Douglas Preston with Mario Spezi
Grand Central Publishing (2008)
ISBN 9780446581196
Reviewed by Kam Aures for RebeccasReads (7/08)

Author Douglas Preston, his wife Christine, and their two children Isaac and Aletheia, moved to Florence, Italy in the year 2000.  As a journalist and a murder mystery author, Preston had the freedom to live wherever he wanted and it had always been a lifelong dream of his to move to Italy.  They rented a farmhouse in the olive groves at the end of a dirt lane and he began research on his next novel.  A friend of Preston’s put him in contact with Mario Spezi (the co-author of this book), a crime reporter for over 20 years.  Preston was interested in talking to Spezi because he wanted to learn more about Italian police procedure and murder investigation so that the novel that he was working on would be factually accurate.

It was this first meeting with Spezi that introduced Preston to the murders committed by “The Monster of Florence.”  Coincidentally, Preston’s farmhouse happens to be right near the scene of one of the slayings.  From the years of 1974-1985, fourteen young lovers were murdered while parked in the hills around Florence.  Despite being the most expensive and longest running investigation in Italian history, the murderer has never been found.  Spezi shares with Preston the information that he has about the crimes and takes him around to the murder sites.  They dig to try to uncover the truth but their probing may lead to more than they bargained for.

One of the things that surprised me most was that the story of “The Monster of Florence” was pretty much unknown in the United States, especially considering the fact that the FBI was involved in the investigation.  It is also interesting to note that Spezi believes that Thomas Harris’ character of Hannibal Lecter was based on “The Monster of Florence.”  In fact, Spezi even saw Harris at one of the trials taking notes. 

I really enjoy true crime stories and found the story of “The Monster of Florence” to be very fascinating and intriguing.  It was interesting to read how the original investigation into the murders was handled and learning about the missteps along the way.  The writing in the book is definitely not for the faint of heart as the gruesome murders are described in great detail, but anyone who enjoys true crime stories will most surely enjoy this book.    

  

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