The return of Dario Miranda, a solitary, abrupt and generous policeman

A distant school trip, an entire class of a high school in Milan well on a trip to Siena in 1978. Too much alcohol, heavy jokes and tragedy. Then time starts to flow again, but a tangle of ties, pains and grudges remains that leads straight to the Milan of today. Inspector Dario Miranda finds himself investigating the discovery of a girl's hand in a park on the outskirts of Milan. Other fragments of corpses appear both in that green corner and in other areas of the city. Opposed by a superior with whom he has had clashes in the past, supported in the shadows by a brilliant and charming PM, accomplices with the colleagues of the suburban police station that is his base, Miranda connects the dots and the clues, not letting himself be discouraged by arrogance of the upper-bourgeois Milan into which it enters. And he's not afraid to search for a hidden truth for too long.

Robust and surprising thriller, “Witness the night” (Bompiani, 2022, pp. 674, also e-book) represents the return to the scene two years after the success of “Transparent souls” of the character of Dario Miranda .

To its creator, the journalist and novelist Daniele Bresciani, we first ask how he would define his protagonist:

“Inspector Dario Miranda is a policeman. And we could close it like this. In the sense that he loves his work, he likes to connect the dots and arrive at the final drawing. He is a rough man, but not disillusioned. Sometimes grumpy, but not bitter. And he is endowed with a profound humanity. He has a great passion for green spaces, which one goes to look for in a city like Milan which, at least in appearance, is not green, and for the animals that live in those places. He frequents the Milanese parks whenever he can, sometimes equipped with a night vision device to observe the fauna: these are the moments in which he finds calm and concentration. And it is precisely from his morning excursion to a park, on the trail of someone who places traps to capture foxes, that the investigation of Witness at night begins ".

As a policeman how could we define him?

“A policeman with a sense of justice that prevails over everything. Sometimes even on the law. This pushes him to act without thinking about the consequences of his actions and on some occasions puts him in contrast with his superiors: precisely because of a violent quarrel with a colleague he was confined to a suburban police station. In the same way, however, he is loyal to the colleagues he works with today, the superintendent Rizzo, his old roommate, and the new arrival, agent Andrea Brunner. "

How does it compare with the high-bourgeois environment in which it investigates?

“Miranda soon realizes that the murders she is investigating, two girls and a boy, all young people from Milan well, have a thread that unites them. In the past, the fathers of the victims attended a private school which was then only for boys and today is mixed, but always favored by the wealthiest families. And as the days go by, he realizes that to understand what happened, it is necessary to dig into the past, up to a class trip from the 1970s, during which a well-hidden tragedy happened. The protagonists of that act today are established professionals: a notary, an entrepreneur, a stock broker. And what binds them goes beyond friendship: it is a vow of silence. Miranda will have to violate that silence and to do so she avails herself of the help not only of her colleagues, but also of some characters on the border of legality. "

How important is the team you work with to him?

“Miranda, despite being the highest in rank, does not feel like 'the boss' of the team that collaborates with him in the investigation. It is part of it. Everyone contributes, sometimes taking some personal risk. In addition to colleagues Rizzo and Brunner, and to Vertebra, a scientist technician who got this nickname for his inevitable back pain, one of the protagonists of the story is Gianni Losi, computer technician and good hacker, able to dig into lesser-known corners. of the Net. Without forgetting Luca Berni, a doctor who had already made an appearance in Miranda's previous adventure, Transparent Souls, and three Latinos of a pandilla, a gang, who are used for the dirtiest jobs. Turning a blind eye if they let slip a few too many slaps with those who deserve it. "

Why did you choose to focus the book on so many dialogues?

“I like dialogue, both as a reader and as an author. Dialogues are the protagonists of a good part of our days: at work, with family, with friends. There are those who go even further and speak in their sleep ... Beyond the lines, I believe that the dialogues give rhythm to the page, so I prefer that what I want to say is said by the protagonists of the story. And so, if it happens that a joke doesn't like it or a position isn't shared by the reader, I can always put the blame on Miranda or her friends, right? "