Game For Five is the first of two translated novels (from the Bar Lume series of five) from Italian author Marco Malvaldi. It is unlike any mystery I have read - full of appealingly odd characters and humour, no real suspects, no back stories, and sort of a loose and amateur investigation.
Massimo owns a coffee bar in the coastal town of Pineta (based on the author's hometown of Pisa), where his Grandpa Ampelio and three old seniors - Aldo, Gino, and Pilade - spend the days telling tales, people watching, and playing cards. One night, a young man comes into the bar to say he has found a body, and Massimo is the one to call police. Knowing everyone in the town, Massimo talks with the detectives and the doctor, and being overly observant, picks up his own clues. While the investigation continues in the background, Massimo spends his time playing games of briscola for five with the old-timers, and discussing what could have happened. If you ask Gino it's again the Albanians - if not, it's probably the Calabrians. Between shots of coffee, chatting and arguing - it is this way Massimo deciphers the crime, and then informs the police.
To have a mystery where virtually nothing is known about the suspects and with no backstory on the victim is quite unusual. That the mystery is not centered on the police investigation is also odd, but spending time in Pineta listening to town gossip from some very quirky characters is entertaining. Massimo runs his bar - and he decides whether you'll get the coffee you ordered. The answer is No, you can't - it's too hot, you'll make yourself sick - have a juice. People seem to trust him, and he manages to get ahold of information the police cannot. There are clues there if you want them, but it's more of an enjoyment than a puzzle.
These novels were bestsellers in Italy, and Marco Malvaldi has won the Isola d'Elba Award and the Castiglioncello Prize for his crime novels.
Recommended!
2007 / Tradeback / 140 pages
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