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In this second highly successful book by Pistacchio and Toffanello, there is all the melancholic and decadent charm of the role of private detective, seemingly lost in the streets and magnificent atmospheres of Turin.

Salvatore Puglise, 35 years as a private investigator, has been seeing the glass half empty for too long. He had his golden years, at the times when jazz music was the protagonist in Turin and customers seemed like snow at Christmas, and he had a ready wit, the perfect body, the right swing. But those days are over.
What remains is the bitterness of empty days, peering into the void, and nights of nightmares. Maybe this rough time is over, maybe a fleeing woman and a junkie will help him to get back on track. Putting an old photo back together and engaging a guy could allow him to leave it all behind. Or it is just another way to keep losing, only slower? Among lies, blind alleys, false leads, secrets and regrets, here comes the four-star criminal case, the most difficult investigation for Mr. Puglise, the last hard-bopper detective alive.


Mario Pistacchio was born in 1979 in Cerignola. Laura Toffanello was born in 1970 in Turin. After L’estate del cane bambino (The summer of the dogboy, 66thand2nd, 2014), Requiem for a shadow is their second novel.

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