Lead Review (The Viper)
- Book: The Viper
- Location: Tuscany
- Author: Christobel Kent
This is no. 6 in the Sandro Cellini series, his final outing.
Just outside Florence is a derelict farmhouse, la Vipera. The novel opens as a local butcher is truffle hunting with his dog, Gelsomina and although passing by the property with a sense of foreboding, he has to follow his dog, who has disappeared into the ruins. We know that both have taken their last breath.
Back in the 1970s Sandro Cellini, a rookie policeman at that point, was called upon to investigate “goings-on” at the very same farmhouse. It had been bought by a Danish woman, Johanna Nielsson, an heiress no less, who had set up a kind of commune with her heroin-addicted lover. Rumours abounded (and, indeed, continue to persist into the present), that there was trafficking and all kinds of illicit undertakings taking place but Cellini could not really establish anything untoward. Because of his earlier investigations at the property, he has now been called upon to work on the discovery of two bodies at La Vipera (three, if you factor in Gelsomina). Their identities are soon disclosed.
Luisa, Cellini’s wife, was not untouched by the community dynamics back then and has never really shared information that perhaps might be helpful in the current situation. Giuli, Celllini’s assistant, tends to be laid low with various ailments, imagined and not, and early in the storyline, she receives a call from a child. She almost wonders whether she has now imagined it…
On the cusp of Autumn, the characters have a final reckoning both within their community and on more personal levels.
The author spent some time in Florence and created this series to keep the feel of the city alive in her mind, once she had returned to the UK. She has created a very strong sense of place, with a good selection of characters to make the story feel embedded in a small Italian community.
This story can be read as a stand alone.
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