Read | 14. Jun 2021

Crime With A View

I have been visiting the Italian part of Lago Maggiore for more than thirty years now. My husband´s parents used to have a summer house there, overlooking the lake since the early Sixties. So their boys learned to speak Italian fluently - and that includes not only the language but also a certain attitude towards life. That I happen to love.

How I love to flip through any of those carefully produced photo albums - my mother in law composed several of them every year.

To cover my sentimental feelings I also read many books over the years, novels and biographies (a lot of charismatic people shared my love for the Lago and lived there through parts of their lives), tons of articles, watched several movies just for the location...

And now I read my first crime story that takes place exactly where our family spent their summers for so many years. Actually, not the poshest part of the lago district. But for me: The one closest to my heart.

"Buona Notte" is actually the second murder mystery novel which the brothers Stephan and Andreas Lebert wrote together under the pen name Andrea Di Stefano (I wonder if they rolled the dice about it, Stefano Di Andrea sounds not so bad, either); I bought their last year crime story "Tutto Bene" right after I finished "Buona Notte".

And guess what - I will go back to those lake sites this summer and enjoy a complete new perspective through the eyes of those characters:

Maybe next to me at a certain table in a certain Bar in a village called Luino (one of those with the same owner since generations) I might watch someone who reminds me of former detective Lukas Albano Geier. Who is now a musician living in an old tower high above the lake enjoying the good life.

I am following that guy on instagram for some time now, so I guess, I know who I am looking for.

And what I am listening to. After his song "Tutto Bene", an add-on to the book last year, they already talk about another catchy record: "Buona Notte " is supposed to come out later this summer.