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Show 'Monster' is real - life murder mystery David McFadden THE ASSOCIATED PRESS and investigative fits and starts, Italian authorities finally link three men to the gruesome murders, includa farm-ing Pietrp Pacciani hand dubbed the "Monster of Florence" by local media. In a 1994 televised trial that gripped Italy, the Pacciani was convicted of 14 screw-up- s 77-v. - This gripping collaboration a best selling author and an I Italian journalist is "a most unconventional thriller, a real-lif- e murder mystery in which the authors become suspects. As they attempt to solve notorious serial killings of 16 people between 1968 and 1985, the two men are caught up s in a tense, battle with prosecutors and police that increasingly appears to be guided only by superstition and ruthless ambition. Preston's involvement begins in 2000 when he moves his family to the hills above Florence, fulfilling a dream of living in the land of the Renaissance. But he discovers there is a duality to Tuscany. There are murders and sentenced to life in prison. But in February 1996, an appeals court cleared Pacciani and he was ordered to face a retrial. He died in 1998 of what authorities termed natural causes while awaiting a second trial. After Preston's arrival in the second half of the narrative, authorities reopen the German tourists were found infamous case amid speculaparked in their cars or camped tion they were investigating in the Tuscan countryside. Feup to a dozen wealthy Italians who orchestrated the ritualistic male victims were mutilated, their vaginas and left breasts slayings by manipulating a trio of voyeuristic peasants. hacked away. slowaced medieval villages and lustrous meadows, but on We meet Spezi, an enterprisA local medium, painted as moonless nights, the meadows ing Italian crime reporter who an unhinged woman who has are stalking grounds of a fiend questions the lisjointed puzzles a treacherous sway over the who has caused dread in the leading public minister in the investigators .onstruct to exhearts of generations of Flocase, heips lead authorities to plain the appating slayings. He becomes obsessed with the increasingly feverish resolurentines. The first half of the book case, researching the most con- tions. Pretty soon, officials are focuses on the historical details vincing explanation to prove breathing down the necks of of the savage crimes. The dead the identity of the killer. Spezi and Preston, who mainseven couples and a pair of After a spate of bureaucratic tain a lone killer carried out the murders and they claim they know his identity. Their theory flatly rejects the occult theories of the aug thorities, whose careers are hanging in the balance. Who, if anyone, has the correct version of events? Will htyjm the infamous Italian mystery high-stake- high-flyin- r4r ever be solved? The fascinating story unfolds with memorable characters and dizzying plot twists that could if the come off as book was fictional. The writing is evocative, and the two collaborators skillfully weave the narratives back and forth to create, at times, a razor's edge of tension. Monster of Florence" (Grand Central Publishing. 317 pages. $25.99), by Douglas Preston with Mario Spezi. I "The IMS? ffllMW?? I . . S tsj,''. I - Aj BOOK BUZZ By LAURA WADLEY The Orchard' Wishing for a safe spot to shelter from the storms of life for awhile? Look no V further than Adele Crockett Robertson's "The Orchard: A titude, love of the land and "a covert of one's fellows from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the i shadow of a great rock in a , . weary land." Memoir." Discovered by her daughter after her death, Robertson's manuscript tells the story of her struggle and deep need to save the family's I New England Yr farm after her father's death during the Great Depressioa Unmarried at the time, i,, lit 375-- 5 103 .... --J ;" Adele leaves the security of her job with a Boston museum and heads back home to face down a mountain of debt and the backbreaker work of caring for the farm's thousand-plu- s peach and apple trees. Robertson communicates her love of the land and the beauty of the New England coast with a New Englander's clear eye and Spartan ... sensi- bilities: "There had been no frost. The marshes were only just touched with gold. Here and there a sumac sported a red leaf. Every blade of grass was brilliant with dew, and the long morning shadows pointed toward the north" "The Orchard" is peopled, as well, with memorable characters her pickers, whom she hires for twice the going rate, not choosing to 'The Slaves' War" As one may determine from its title, Andrew Ward's "The Slaves' War: The Civil War in the Words of Former Slaves" gives readers a unique perspective on the war between the states. Masterfully weaving slave i: narratives into a broader pic- ture, Ward tells the story of i; slaves whose news of the war,; came from listening carefully while serving at their masters' tables; of slaves who were terrorized by their masters about the monstrous, horned Yankees and who then were both : surprised and delighted to take advantage of everyone's discover "they's folks!" and of slaves whose masters vowed desperate need for work. Joe, Kasimir, Stanley, Old they would rather run them Louis the Pole: All appreciate, down to the river bank and their jobs and work hard to "free you with my shotgun" than to have the Yankees let bring the fruit safely to the cellar. The first year, Greenthem go. "The Slaves' War" is comings, Baldwins; Mcintosh and Spies come off the trees in pelling reading, a neglected sufficient quantity and quality but rich aspect of American to discharge most of the debt history that enlarges our and give Adele a stake for understanding and sense of the next year, but when the justice in the telling. fiercest of winters freezes the I Laura Wadley is a librarian apples even in the barn, the farm must go. with the Provo City Library. What a tender, beautiful her at lauraw story this is, of courage, for provo.lib.ut.us. Utah County's PREMIER .1 ft.' I ; local sports coverage www.heraldextra.com roilHcroU) U |
