The Dogs of Rome, 1st in the
Commissario Alec Blume series by Conor Fitzgerald, is a police procedural thriller free courtesy of UK publisher Bloomsbury's US division.
Currently free from
B&N, presumably to promote the soon-to-be-released 2nd book in the series,
Fatal Touch. Bloomsbury was pretty generous about putting Ruth Downie's
Medicus in all the major stores the last time they offered a freebie, so there's probably a decent chance this'll also pop up in other venues.
Description
In this accomplished and riveting thriller, police inspector Alec Blume battles organized crime, political pressure, and his own demons as he investigates the death of Arturo Clemente. Blume, a clever American expatriate with a disposition against authority, soon realizes that he is being watched from on high. Forced to negotiate with powerful, suspicious people on all sides of the law, Blume must rely on instinct, drive, and luck to find the killer.
The Dogs of Rome is both a thrilling detective story and a vision of underground Rome. Blume is a perfect hero for this story: intelligent but flawed, cynical but unafraid. He is a trustworthy and compelling protagonist for this first installment in a gritty and promising series.