Quattro croci a Siena

An atmospheric crime novel that transports the reader to Siena in the late 1970s

Siena, spring 1979. In a city still suspended between the elegance of its past and the political tensions that ran through Italy during the Years of Lead, three murders shake the quiet routine of city life. Three victims with nothing in common, three different locations, three different methods: the crimes seem impossible to link to the same perpetrator. 

Caterina, a fifty-year-old librarian, a methodical, reserved woman accustomed to searching for answers among the bookshelves, becomes involved almost by chance. A detail that the investigators have overlooked, a coincidence that only an eye accustomed to books and codes can grasp: from that moment on, Caterina finds herself following a subtle thread that connects the three murders to a single, disturbing director.

While the city of Siena grapples with the climate of suspicion and fear spread by terrorism, with the Brigate Rosse (Red Brigades) in the background threatening an already fragile balance, Caterina's investigation becomes increasingly personal. Each victim carries with them a piece of a larger puzzle, and each step forward reveals a web of secrets, grudges and long-buried truths.

Author Raffaele Ascheri, a teacher, writer and blogger, creates a crescendo that keeps the reader on the edge of their seat until the very last chapter.