[sufue]

This is not a huge price drop, from $5.99 to $3.99, and $3.99 is still a bit high for a 2009 title IMO, but Michael Pearce is one of my top five favorite mystery authors, so I'm posting anyway.

Pearce's "Dead Man in..." series features Sandor Pelczynski Seymour as a somewhat unusual policeman (with language skills - !!! - from growing up in the East End) who is commandeered by Special Branch and sent to trouble spots around the British Empire in the years leading up to WWI.

Now, as mentioned above, the next to last title in the series, Dead Man in Naples, has dropped to $3.99 at Kindle and Kobo US.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01JHKQN5E
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/a-dead-man-in-naples-1

Spoiler:

Naples, 1913. Sun-baked, blue-skied, and with its amazing bay, one of the most beautiful spots in Italy - but also, one of the most backward. Into that world is sent a minor British consular official, Scampion, banished from Florence because he has allowed himself to be caught up in the mad social whirl surrounding D'Annunzio, the famous Italian poet, Nationalist and revolutionary.

Scampion brings with him from Florence the new craze that is sweeping Italy: bicycling. And one day as he walks home after a road race that he has been organising, he is stabbed to death.

Nothing extraordinary about that in Naples - it happens all the time - but his wallet was not taken, a fact that is remarkable. Could Scampion's murder have something to do with the racing? Bicycling may seem like a harmless pursuit but in Italy passions run high and Neopolitans, too, are great gamblers; they gamble on anything, including bicycle races. And where there is gambling, in Naples there is usually the Camorra, the powerful Neopolitan secret society.

But then the Foreign Office receives a tip off that the murder may be more complicated. It might be linked to high politics in Rome. And that's when Seymour, the foreigner from the F.O., is sent south to investigate . . .

It's also worth noting that the first title in the series, A Dead Man in Trieste, has been holding more-or-less at $0.99 for quite a while, so if you want to try the series first, you can pick that one up for cheap.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01J24WAQ6/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/a-d...n-in-trieste-1

Spoiler:

'Sheer fun' The Times

Trieste in 1906 is of vital strategic importance and one of the world's greatest seaports. But assorted nationalist movements are threatening to pull the place apart and the militarist regime has trouble keeping a lid on things.

Amid all the chaos the British consul goes missing, and Special Branch Seymour is sent to find him. Born to an immigrant family in London's East End, Seymour has an acute linguistic ear - crucial in turn-of-the-century Trieste. As he attempts to solve the riddle of the consul's disappearance, Seymour discovers dark and disturbing corners of the city and finds that it holds the secrets of his own family's past.

Praise for Michael Pearce's A Dead Man in . . . series

'The steady pace, atmospheric design, and detailed description re-create a complicated city. A recommended historical series' Library Journal

'His sympathetic portrayal of an unfamiliar culture, impeccable historical detail and entertaining dialogue make enjoyable reading' Sunday Telegraph