Description

"The Last Days of Il Duce" is a dark, elegantly written thriller set in North Beach, the old Italian neighborhood of San Francisco. It tells the story of Niccolo Jones, an ex-lawyer obsessed with his brother's wife, an obsession he won't give up even though it implicates him in murder -- and leads him into the intricate and tangled history of the neighborhood. Aging Italian fascists, vengeful Chinese landlords, senile Beat poets who mutter into the ruins of abandoned hotels -- all inhabit the shadows as Niccolo pursues Marie Donnatelli, the woman at the heart of his obsession. Such passion exacts its price however, and in the end, "The Last Days of Il Duce" builds to an unflinching conclusion reminiscent of the classic noir mysteries of the 1940's.