The Monster of Florence - Douglas Preston

Yikes. What more can you ask for in a book like this.... serial murders in the beautiful Tuscan countryside, conspiracy theories, blood feuds, clan mentality? It's all in here. In The Monster of Florence, Douglas Preston chronicles at first the murders beginning in 1981, later connected to 1968 and 1974 killings, which are investigated and covered by journalist Mario Spezi. 

Spezi watches as the investigation makes several missteps including the basic fundamentals of crime scene security. Suspects are arrested and then freed after the killings fail to stop. The brutality of the murders create panic in the countryside as young lovers are targeted in flagrante delicto. And the police seem unable to stop the carnage. 

A Sardinian clan affiliated with the 1968 murder comes under suspicion, but the investigators are unable to make anything stick against the experienced criminals. However, as it's clear the family was involved in the 1968 killing and the same gun is used for all the subsequent murders, the family and the Monster must be connected, but how? 

Unable to make any of the convictions stick, aside from the 1968 conviction of the victims cuckolded husband, the investigators give up on the "Sardinian Trail" and disband letting a new crop of investigators pick up the pieces. 

Instead of a thoughtful review of the evidence, the new inspector Guittare, along with a Perugian judge Menini, embarks on a twisting conspiracy theory involving satanic cults and fancifal explanations for simple facts. The ridiculousness of their pursuits is highlighted in insisting a Perugian drowning in 1985 is related - the proof, the fact that the body buried was not that of the drowned man - but when he's exhumed and found to be the same man the investigators claim there was a double body switch. If this seems far fetched and hard to understand then you get the drift of how absurd their investigation became.

Eventually even Preston and Spezi come under scrutiny for their vehement disagreements with the investigators theories. Spezi is jailed and Menini insists he was involved in the 1985 Perugian drowning. If Menini's name sounds familiar, it's because he used the same satanic cockamamie theories to arrest and convict Amanda Knox in the killing of her roomate back in 2008. The complete autonomy with which Menini operates leads to many miscarriages of justice and wrecks many lives. 

The book is fascinating and blessedly well written. A very good read for true crime fans and law nerds alike.

4/5 Stars.