They call them cold cases, and they are the only ones I can take on, at this point. Cold as the wind that whips through these valleys or the ice-covered peaks of the mountains above. Long-buried episodes of violence suddenly re-emerge, as cruel and arbitrary as certain enigmas. But what I’m handling now is something much grimmer and complicated than I expected. An evil design indeed, and all I can do is analyze it thoroughly and follow the trail into the darkest of our valleys and forests that will be reborn in the spring. I need to go where the clues lead me. My name is Teresa Battaglia, and I’m a police inspector specialized in criminal profiling.
Ilaria Tuti lives in Gemona del Friuli, near Udine. She wanted to be a photographer as a child, but went on to study economics. She loves the seaside, but lives in the mountains. A lover of painting, in her free time she illustrated books for a small publishing house. Her first novel, Flowers Over the Inferno (Longanesi 2018), was a literary sensation in Italy and abroad. It was shortlisted for the 2018 Scerbanenco Award and selected as a Times Crime Book of the Month in March 2019. Its selling points include its evocative and unsettling setting, a style at once fresh and mature, an impeccable plot device, and an instantly unforgettable main character, Teresa Battaglia.
