There was an unintentional theme to the weekend’s literary pages: murder, in some shape or form. There are fictions, histories and real life whodunits to choose from, if crime is your guilty pleasure.
First up: Death in Perguia, a comprehensive account of the Kercher case written by the Sunday Times’ John Follain, who covered the investigation and trials for that paper. Stephen Robinson reviewed the book for the Sunday Times (£) and observes that Follain ‘has produced an excellent account of the tragedy and the very Italian drama that followed.’
That ‘very Italian drama’ is one of wild incompetence, brazen conspiracy theories and wrongful arrests, coloured by the titillating mixture of promiscuity, drugs and the sultry decay of Perugia. Robinson says that Follain’s book, for all its narrative qualities, does not analyse the effects of that disorder, or offer opinions about it.
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