Every day at dawn, men and women cross the border between Italy and Switzerland to go to work. They’re called frontalieri, and there are tens of thousands or them. One is Ernesto Magni. Nothing out of the ordinary about his life, really, until he gets fired and his wife walks away, and things take a decidedly nasty turn. Elia Contini, a modest private investigator who lives in the mountains of the Ticino, from where he casts an ironic and jaded eye on the world below, when not working. takes the case. With all his existential angst unresolved, Contini now finds himself in a dark zone that reaches from the lives of the frontalieri to the violent, chaotic world of corrupt businessmen. The noir novel delves into the psychological makeup of the protagonists and lesser characters as it tells a tale of sexual harassment, economic exploitation, and time-old grudges – but also love, tenderness, and intimacy. The events can be seen through the eyes of the imaginary beasts peopling these pages: changeable shapes and reflections of strange, fantastical dreams, the impulse being to either take flight or take refuge in them, holding onto to hope.

Andrea Fazioli’s novels Le strade oscure (agosto 2022), Il commissario e la badante (2020), Gli Svizzeri muoiono felici (2018), L’arte del fallimento (2016, La Fenice Europa, Anfiteatro d’Argento awards), Il giudice e la rondine (2014), Uno splendido inganno (2013), La sparizione (2010, La Fenice Europa Award), Come rapinare una banca svizzera (2009), and L’uomo senza casa (2008, Stresa Award, Selezione Comisso Award) were all published by Guanda. His novel Le vacanze di Studer. Un poliziesco ritrovato (2021), based on unpublished writings by Friedrich Glauser translated by Gabriella de’Grandi, was published by Casagrande, along with the story collection Succede sempre qualcosa (2018). Chi muore si rivede (2005) came out with Dadò, and La beata analfabeta (2016) with edizioni San Paolo, while Gabriele Capelli Editore published A Zurigo, sulla luna. Dodici mesi in Paradeplatz (2021), co-authored with Yari Bernasconi. In paperback, Fazioli’s novels are published by TEA. He also wrote a 2015 play called Teoria e pratica della rapina in banca, while the previous year he scripted the web series Notte noir (winner of awards at the Roma Web Fest and the Efebo d’Oro in Palermo).