Italian Crime

Amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive, this piercing work distills 3,000 years of the history of power into 48 well-explicated laws. This bold volume outlines the laws of power in their unvarnished essence, synthesizing the philosophies of Machiavelli, Sun Tzu, Carl von Clausewitz, and other infamous strategists. The 48 Laws of Power will fascinate any listener interested in gaining, observing, or defending against ultimate control.

Count Falier urges his Venetian son-in-law Guido Brunetti to investigate, and preferably intervene in, the seemingly innocent plan of the Count's best friend, the elderly Gonzalo Rodriguez de Tejada, to adopt a much younger man as his son. Under arcane Italian inheritance laws this man would then be heir to Gonzalo's entire fortune, a prospect Gonzalo's friends find appalling. Then Gonzalo unexpectedly, and literally, drops dead on the street, and his good friend Berta Dodson, just arrived in Venice for the memorial service, is strangled in her hotel room.

Early one morning, Silvio Lupanello, a big shot in the village of Vigata, is found dead in his car with his pants around his knees. The car happens to be parked in a rough part of town frequented by prostitutes and drug dealers, and as the news of his death spreads, the rumors begin. Enter Inspector Salvo Montalbano, Vigata's most respected detective, who has his doubts about the way Silvio died.

Nestled high in the Tuscan hills lies Villa Volpone, home to renowned crime writer Jonah Moore and his creative writing course. It’s also the last place retired DCI Dan Armstrong expected to spend his retirement! Dan’s no writer, but maybe this break will help him to think about the next chapter in his own life story? But only days into the course, Jonah Moore is found stabbed to death with his award-winning silver dagger! And Dan finds himself pulled out of retirement with a killer to catch.

In 1997 a six-year-old boy questioned by authorities relayed disturbing stories of abuse. The more he talked, the more people were implicated in his shocking revelations. And he was only the first child to come forward. Within a year, fifteen more children with similar tales were transferred out of the Bassa region of Italy to protected locations. Their parents were accused of belonging to a satanic sect that performed sex rituals under the aegis of beloved local priest Don Giorgio Govoni. With each child’s confession, the network of monsters grew.

Morris Duckworth teaches English to the pampered rich of Verona, and Morris is not pleased. Living a meager existence in a squalid apartment, he regards his privileged students with envy and disdain, first wreaking revenge by petty theft and then, like all good criminals, graduating to grander larceny. When one of those students, a beautiful but vapid heiress named Massimina, falls in love with him, Morris can almost smell upward mobility.

Rick Montoya has just moved from Santa Fe to Rome, embracing the life of a translator. He's beginning to settle in to la dolce vita when school friend Beppo, now senior in the Italian Art Squad, recruits Rick for an unofficial undercover role. Armed with a list of galleries, suspects, and an expense account, Rick arrives in Tuscany posing as a buyer for a Santa Fe gallery to flush out traffickers in priceless burial urns. However, before sunset on his first day in Volterra, the challenge intensifies. Rick has one quick conversation with a gallery employee who dies minutes later in a brutal fall from a high cliff.

When Liliana is kidnapped and beaten by a rival mafia family, Nicholas will stop at nothing to rescue his wife and exact vengeance. Aiding in her daring escape is Jocelyn, a captive woman Nicholas promises to free along with her daughter. But the mission to save them becomes complicated when Detective Samuel Turner reveals there is a mole in the police department working for the nefarious Bianchi family. As Nicholas and Liliana fight to protect their family empire, they uncover secrets that make them question whom they can trust. Long-buried truths about Liliana’s own mother’s ...

I'm a mafia man who lives for power and family. My past has made it so love isn't an option. Which is why some say I don't have a heart. A client who owes a substantial debt to me has disappeared. Sitting in his restaurant, I'm greeted by a woman who's a real spitfire. She doesn't care that I'm Franco DeLuca a made man. After a few more verbal exchanges things take a dark turn. She becomes my captive. During the time spent under my roof together the lines get blurred. Because of my dark past I keep telling myself I don't want anything to progress between us. She's testing my limits. She ...

Everything I've done, everything I will do, there will be no regret. The world is a vicious place for a woman. It's even crueler to the daughter of the Ceann na Conairte - discarded, married off, left powerless. But I am no ordinary daughter of the mafia. Unlike every other mafia family, my mother was Melody Callahan, Bloody Mel, the Don of the Italian Mafia, and the Don didn't raise some precious mafia princess. Bone by bone she broke me first, so no one else could - and bone by bone, I pieced myself back together.

An arranged marriage to the Russian hitman... and his twin brother? It's an outrage! Mafia princess Marie Lauro always knew that duty to the family was worth any sacrifice, but she never believed her father would order her to be married against her wishes. Roman and Alek Borosliev are new pawns in the ongoing turf war between the Russian Mob and Italian Mafia. Twenty years of peace is nearly shattered when Roman receives orders that he is to take the Mafia princess as his bride. But the Russian twins have ideas of their own about what kind of bride they really want, ideas that would shock ...

I got pregnant after a sizzling one-night stand. I didn’t know then he was the son of a billionaire mafia Don. He walked over to me as if he owned the world. The dim light dancing over his sculptured face, Teased me with a glimpse of perfection. His deep baritone voice vibrated thru my core, and before I knew it, we were back at my place, thrusting into ecstasy. For hours he took me to heaven and back, But on earth, he became cold as ice. Then, without so much as a name, He walked out the door and out of my life. I tried to forget him, Until I got unexpected news from my doctor weeks ...

My main priority as the mafia boss is protecting my queen. When I first laid eyes on Lexis as a boy those dark brown eyes and her pretty brown skin drew me in. I had to meet her. Get close to her. Remain close to her. We became best friends. I consoled her when she felt abandoned by her mother. My father dropped a bomb in my lap when I was sixteen. I learned I’d become the next mafia boss of the Esposito’s. Dad said I needed to let her go. Her grandmother told her to run away from me and don’t look back. She had no idea I sank my teeth into the mahogany beauty a long time ago. She’s...

I betrayed him and yet he still saved me. Now I owe him more than I can afford to pay. Nico Allotini is not someone you mess with. His chiseled body was touched by the divine, but he’s no angel. With more power than I ever dreamed, He’s no longer the gentle lover I betrayed four years ago. He’s the brutal mafia boss, nicknamed “The Undertaker,” with a reputation for taking what he’s owed. But then he saves me from certain death, I owe him more than I can afford to pay. Until he offers me a contract. A dangerous, sinful contract. One that will make me his and only his. He needs ...

"I can explain." That's what everyone says when they're caught breaking the law. City Council Commissioner Sloane Bishop is a murderer. I don't think she meant to kill her abusive ex. But when I walk through the door, he's breathing his last. I was on my way to do the job myself; too bad she beat me to it. Now the cops want to know what happened. They're sniffing around and asking questions. Sloane has a choice: marry me or go to prison. After all, they can't make your husband testify against you... It's a spousal privilege marriage of convenience. Filthy Sinner is the third book in The ...

Eliza Bennett, textile scientist and amateur sleuth, is back for another thrilling adventure, this time in the picturesque vineyards of Italy! When Eliza travels to the renowned Calbretti's Vineyard for a fabric dye research project. She’s accompanied by her ever-faithful and paranormal orange tabby cat, Merlin. But their idyllic getaway turns sinister when a murder shatters the vineyard's tranquility. As secrets entwine with the vines, Eliza and Merlin must navigate a web of deceit and danger. Between uncovering hidden motives and evading perilous traps, the duo faces their most ...

The woman who was my childhood best friend and is now mine would never walk away. So, I thought. Why did she leave? Lexis and I had a wonderful life together. We were best friends growing up and later lovers. My brother Marco and I are the bosses of the Esposito crime family. Lexis ran one of many Espositos’ gambling houses. She didn’t take anyone’s mess. I loved how tough she was. And that she was mine. Five years later, after Mom mentioned her name at a holiday dinner, I thought about Lexis long and hard. It was time to find the woman I loved and bring her home. Warning this book ...

My one-night stand has me on the run from a deadly hitman. Now is not the time to find out I’m pregnant. The Chicago mafia does not take arranged marriages lightly. So when my father promises me to the son of a powerful Don, I know my fate is sealed. I needed one last night of mindblowing passion. That’s when I met him. He had the body of a Greek god, And could charm the panties off any woman. I didn’t care what his name was, Chances are, I’d never see him again. Or so I thought... Because a few weeks later, that stranger turns out to be the man I’m engaged to. Anthony Giovanni: ...

One unforgettable night left me pregnant by a mobster. Leo’s the type of man momma warned me about. The one that makes me lose all self-control. The night we met burned with stolen glances, a silent language understood by no other. His scent invaded my senses, beckoning me like a siren’s call. With eyes blazing with masculine strength and raw temptation, I needed to taste him. Back at his place, he snatched my soul with each thrust, leaving sweat dripping off every inch of my body. As I came down from the high, If he asked for my very being, I’d give it to him. Fearing the intense ...

She's the temptation he can't resist Gina Leonardi is seventeen and romantic. She wants to be an ordinary girl with an ordinary life, but it’s next to impossible—her family is in the Mafia. She desperately fights for her rights, mutinying against the world where men treat women like accessories. He's everything she hates Renzo Castellano is twenty-nine. He's a true Cosa Nostra. He has no room for sentiments in his life because business always comes first for him. Taking care of a rebellious teenage girl is the last thing he wants. A chance encounter shatters their worlds because it’s ...