Requiem for a killer

Marco Michele Sigeri, Emme Emme to his friends, is the protagonist of Piero Colaprico’s latest novel, a noir set in Milan. Sigeri lives a double life as a respected officer in Milan’s murder squad who also works as a hitman for Don Benigno Morlacco, an ‘Ndrangheta mafia boss. Colaprico’s protagonist is an intelligent and solitary man, cultured and with a love for books – an anti-hero worthy of the great hardboiled novels. The story opens when Sigeri receives two new commissions from the mafia boss: the murder of a clan lawyer, with the request that the execution “makes people die from laughing”, and the intimidation of a businesswoman resisting requests for illicit financing. The latter job turns out to be trickier than expected; Mira Scarlatti is a hugely determined woman with an iron will, who is not easily scared. Sigeri finds in Scarlatti an unexpected ally, ready to help him in his own personal quest for justice. This fast-paced novel, narrated in the first person by the killer/avenger grips the reader and portrays contemporary Milan in all its shadowy darkness.  

Requiem per un killer
Piero Colaprico
Feltrinelli, 2023