Women have always known how to deal with crimes. Don't get me wrong: those in celluloid, also because in reality, in the bad and violent world out there, the predisposition to kill each other is, at all latitudes, the prerogative of men. In this sense, there is the incipit of a beautiful story by Raymond Chandler contained in the collection "Vento rosso". And, if that weren't enough, there are statistics, dry and cold numbers, which certify how the use of brute force in the resolution of social and global conflicts is an attitude to which the Marios, Johns and Bernards tend much more. than the Jessicas and the Celines. But, in the very yellow and very black universe of literary crimes, the game of who gets rid of the most, in the most disparate ways and times, certainly ends in a draw. Without being trivial, and quoting that old English lady who exterminated more than the two world wars, some names from the very varied list of Lady Delitto are exemplary in the world of crime fiction: from Craig Rice to Ruth Rendell, from Lillian 'O Donnel to Sue Grafton and from Kim Wozencraft to Dorothy Uhnak. In Italy, then, this vein is truly enjoying excellent health, and, to the notes Rosa Teruzzi, Gabriella Genisi and Patrizia Rinaldi - to name three - should undoubtedly be added, with her "Ostaggio" (Castelvecchi), our Maria Francesca Chiappe, reporter of L'Unione Sarda and former author, with the same publisher, of that "Non è lei" with which she obtained excellent feedback from readers and critics.
Chronicler
And it is undoubtedly thanks to his pedigree as a long-standing judicial lawyer and investigative journalist, that Chiappe proves to be very familiar with the investigative matter and, therefore, to be able to exploit his professional background in the construction of plots which alongside a strong realism in journalistic, police and legal proceedings otherwise difficult to handle. Every author, every author, has her quid, and this is undoubtedly that of Maria Francesca Chiappe, who with "Ostaggio" takes us back a couple of years, to Sardinia, to Cagliari, where, while in the rest of In Italy, the restrictions due to the pandemic are still very severe, enjoying the semi-freedom of the white area, and where a young woman has disappeared from a villa on the Poetto seafront. Have they kidnapped her?
