PRIMA DI MORIRE ADDIO | 2011 | FRED VARGAS

Before Dying, Farewell (Italian title: Prima di morire addio) is a standalone crime novel by Fred Vargas, originally published in France in 1994 under the title Ceux qui vont mourir te saluent (a play on the Latin Morituri te salutant) The Italian edition, translated by Margherita Botto, debuted in 2011 in Einaudi's NumeriPrimi series li. Set in Rome, the novel revolves around the mysterious murder of art expert Henri Valhubert, who had traveled to the city to investigate the provenance of a newly surfaced Michelangelo drawing. His son Claude, along with his friend Tibère (and another nicknamed Néron), and his stepmother Laure become key suspects. Called to unravel the crime are the reserved magistrate Valence and the talkative Italian commissioner Ruggieri, whose uneasy partnership unveils a tangle of secrets, art, ecclesiastical circles, and deep human passion.