The Hotel of the Three Roses

Yet another intriguing noir fiction offering by Augusto de Angelis, courtesy of Pushkin Vertigo.

An anonymous letter alluding to a future crime in a Milanese hotel is received by Inspector de Vincenzi. Is this just a prank or is something more sinister afoot. By the time the Inspector arrives, murder has been committed - more importantly, what is it that links all the residents together.

For me, it was a wonderful entree into the world of Italian crime fiction, and I have eagerly embarked on the journey with his next offering The Mystery of the Three Orchids.

Recommended to fans of Italian crime fiction, readers of vintage crime, and anyone looking for a new series in crime fiction. I am loving these Pushkin Vertigo releases!

The blurb for this book promises a "chilling gothic mystery" and "bloody drama." It is actually and more precisely an example of one of my favorite sorts of mystery tales in which a tragic, horrific past comes flying back full throttle into the present, and oh, what a chilling tale there is to tell here. It's 1919, and Inspector De Vincenzi has received a very strange anonymous letter about things at The Hotel of the Three Roses, "an unknown third-rate hotel...not the kind you just just stumble upon," in Milan:

"...A horrible drama is brewing, one that will blow up if show more the police don't intervene in time...the devil is grinning from every corner of that house."

De Vincenzi is asked by a colleague if he thinks it's a joke, but the Inspector realizes that "precisely because it is so ridiculous," there is something strange going on and that indeed it is definitely not a joke. Just to be on the safe side, he gets the lowdown on the people who are staying there at the moment. Then, as if on cue, he receives word that there is a dead man at the hotel, one of the five on whom he has gathered information. Feeling "profoundly disturbed," the Inspector had a "vague presentiment that he was about to experience something dreadful." After beginning the official investigation into the death, which looks like a suicide, he realizes that it is actually indeed a murder.

Not long afterwards, he finds a clue that warns that this death just might be the opening salvo in "the beginning of a series." And sure enough, there's another murder. Time is of the essence, and De Vincenzi must solve this one quickly, since as he realizes,

"His adversary was the sort who never misses a chance, and never loses."

However, as in his The Murdered Banker, he is again confronted by a hotel filled with suspects, each of whom is reticent to share his or her secrets.

The Hotel of the Three Roses is a fine mystery story with its roots in the past. Here the inspector finds himself "groping around in the darkness," trying to fit all of the little snippets of clues he's gathered before anyone else becomes a victim. He also has to figure out how the people currently at the Hotel of the Three Roses are tied together, making for a solid piece of detective fiction and a hugely satisfying crime read.

more here (if you're interested). show less

In 1919 the Hotel of the Three Roses in Italy holds a strange assortment of people.
Inspector De Vincenzi receives an anonymous letter suggesting danger at the hotel when he is assigned to the case of a murder there.
He must now discover what binds these residents together before another murder can take place.
A NetGalley book

A murder has been reported at the seedy Hotel of the Three Roses and Inspector De Vincenzi investigates.
More bodies pile up until De Vincenzi finally uncovers a shocking reason why things have been happening at the hotel.
A great mystery suspense and this is another author that I will look out for.
I was given a digital copy of this book by the publisher Pushkin via Netgalley in return for an honest unbiased review.

L’albergo delle tre rose è il primo romanzo della serie del commissario De Vincenzi.
Secondo lo storico del giallo italiano Loris Rambelli il commissario De Vincenzi ha scelto di fare il poliziotto per potere avvicinare quei congegni delicati e sottili che sono il cuore e il cervello degli uomini dove sono racchiusi i segreti dell’esistenza. Rigoroso ragionatore, umanista, amante di poesia, De Vincenzi sa calarsi benissimo nelle psicologia dei suoi interlocutori ed è abilissimo nel recuperare il bandolo della matassa e risolvere il caso. Anche questa volta è la Milano raffinata degli anni Trenta a fare da sfondo al noir.

In un albergo popolato di strani figuri che si dedicano, la notte, al gioco d'azzardo, è stato ucciso, prima show more pugnalato e poi impiccato, un giovane inglese. Seguono a questo altri omicidi, mentre arriva in albergo un avvocato, anch'egli inglese, che deve leggere agli eredi un testamento la cui validità è, misteriosamente, sottoposta alla presenza di tre bambolette di porcellana. E in questa atmosfera da Agatha Christie, De Vincenzi indaga e scopre una verità che alla fine niente ha a che dire con le raffinatezze del delitto all'inglese. Piuttosto con la turpe e disillusa "Milano calibro 9" che sarà di Scerbanenco.

Augusto De Angelis, nato a Roma nel 1888, dopo gli studi di legge esordì nel giornalismo. Redattore e inviato speciale di vari quotidiani, - il Corriere della Sera, Il Resto del Carlino - approdò al romanzo poliziesco nel 1935 con Il banchiere assassino. I suoi romanzi migliori hanno come protagonista il commissario De Vincenzi, portato in televisione negli anni Settanta da Paolo Stoppa.
All’indomani dell’8 settembre 1943 venne arrestato dai fascisti e rinchiuso nel carcere di Como. Appena uscito dal carcere morì a Bellagio nel 1944 per le percosse subite nel corso di una aggressione. show less