TIt all begins with the discovery of a crumpled message in a recovered coat at a vintage market. It starts from here, from this uncommon detail, Thanks to the rain (Rizzoli), the new novel by Laura Facchi, author, writer and, above all, editor. Yes, because Maura Amato, the protagonist, is a freelance editor herself. Penniless, with a disastrous love life and little change in her pocket, she becomes passionate about this letter, written on August 16, 2023, in which an anonymous sender writes about a murder that occurred twenty years earlier: a certain Palli was killed and the author places all the blame on “a dear persona non grata”. Practically, a confession entrusted to chance. Just enough to get curious.
The “investigative method” of an editor
Maura’s life changes. He can’t get that message out of his head. Thus, driven by instinct (and, perhaps, also by professional deformation), she finds herself catapulted to the island of Elba to dig into the past of a group of friends who immediately seem to hide unspeakable secrets. The “investigative method” is that of an editor: Maura does not analyze fingerprints and does not interrogate suspects by force. She analyzes reality as if it were a draft to be corrected. He looks for inconsistencies in people’s stories as he would with the plot holes of a novel, finds the “typos” in human behavior and reads between the lines of other people’s psychologies. His superpower is the professional habit of taking apart and reassembling stories.
A wonderfully flawed protagonist
Laura Facchi introduced the figure of the editor as an investigator
Light years away from infallible investigators, Maura is a real, fragile, ironic and disenchanted woman. He tries to solve other people’s mysteries while desperately trying to put his own life and broken heart back in order. A psychological mystery that delves into the human soul: rather than on the scientific resolution of the crime, the novel focuses on guilt and how time transforms the traumas of youth. The rain is the real accomplice, as we will read, the element that erases the traces but also forces the characters to isolate themselves and confront their own ghosts.
The good thing is that Maura is nothing like a detective from a novel. On the contrary. He makes mistakes, stumbles, gets overwhelmed by events and often finds himself in trouble almost by accident. But this very imperfection makes it irresistible. With his sarcasm and vulnerability, he seems instantly familiar. One of those people you feel like you’ve known forever, even if encountered by chance.
If a book editor becomes an investigator
Thanks to the rain it’s not just the hunt for a culprit, but a journey into the publishing world and into the minds of those who live the stories and correct them for a living. A novelty in the panorama of Italian crime fiction. If we think of the classic detective from detective novels, they come to mind disillusioned policemen, lawyers, magistrates, journalists and writers. A female editor was missing (still). The writing follows Maura’s emotional journey. You enter into his reasoning and get to the last page without really wanting to reach it, the narrative rhythm is so engaging. And they liked the “new entry”: the novel has already been bought in Russia and Germany. When is a series on Netflix?