The Killing Room

When private investigator Sandro Cellini is invited to attend a glamorous launch party for a luxury residence overlooking Florence, he has no idea what he's walking into. Behind the austere beauty of Palazzo San Giorgio's façade terrible secrets lie hidden: not only an old torture chamber uncovered during excavations, but a much more recent malevolence.

Then the head of security dies under suspicious circumstances and Sandro takes on the dead man's role. He soon discovers that his predecessor's death was not random, or isolated, when one of the residents is found murdered in her room. Now, Sandro must work to untangle the secrets of the palazzo to unmask a deadly killer before the fate of another victim is sealed...



Christobel Kent's previous books include

The Dead Season,

A Time of Mourning,

A Party in San Niccolo, Late Season and

A Florentine Revenge. She lives near Cambridge with her husband and five children.



Death, espresso, and political manoeuvering... An ex-cop plying his trade outside the boundaries of normal Italian police procedure. Brooding Italian noir.



Like Dibden's Zen, Cellini is a reluctant inquirer... fascism, the mafia and revolving-door post-war governments have left many secrets that score dark marks on the surface of daily life. Taut and thoughtful mystery that draws on the contrast between location... and the savage passions and politics that lie underneath.



Dark, gloomy and often sinister... An intelligent and convincing thriller with fleshed-out characters you want to meet again.



Bridging the gap left by Michael Dibdin... Suspense, atmosphere, and the architectural beauty of Florence... Fantastic.



Thoughtful, lugubrious, adorable Florentine Sandro Cellini has become my comfort-detective of choice... He make me almost long for a cold so I can go to bed and read.