Small fry

In Alessandro Robecchi's latest novel, 'Pesci piccoli', we again come across Carlo Monterossi, the TV author and detective who started the successful saga, recently adapted for TV in the series 'Monterossi', produced by Palomar. His co-stars, to whom readers have grown attached over the years, are also back and in this new adventure they find themselves dealing with unimportant characters: the marginalised people of a Milan that is increasingly becoming a city for the rich. The small fry. They are not experienced criminals with organised plans and the ability to earn a fortune, but ordinary people who often struggle to survive as they balance low wages and pressing expenses. People who, when they find an opportunity to earn something, take it in the hope of improving their lives, but then get caught up in situations that are bigger than themselves. We also meet with Ghezzi and Carella again, the policemen who work through the petty cases left on their desks, mostly petty crimes committed by poor people living on the streets; and we find the two investigators from Sistemi Integrati, Oscar Falcone and Agatina Cirielli, who, together with Carlo, attempt to investigate a theft that cannot be reported to the police. Finally, of course, we have the colourful Flora De Pisis, the queen of junk TV always ready to dig up some dirt, who is preparing to be in an episode of 'Crazy Love' dedicated to a priest who is not a priest and a miraculous crucifix, which are found in a small village in the Milanese hinterland where a crowd of believers gather. A bitter noir novel that, as we are used to seeing in Robecchi’s novels, continues to describe a city full of contradictions, made up of glittering lights but also dark shadows, in which 'you need a lot of losers to keep the myth of the winning city alive'.  

Pesci piccoli (Small fry)
Alessandro Robecchi
Sellerio, 2024