Italy as a colonial power, as reflected in Albergo Italia, is the mirror image of Italy today: half-clean and half-rotten. In the colony of Eritrea we learn to see ourselves all over - the t'liàn, Italians, the "know-it-alls," cullu ba'llè, who like to think they've thought it all up themselves - and we do so through the ironic, knowing gaze of the Abyssinian Sherlock Holmes, detective Ogbà, and his sidekick in Asmara, the captain of the carabinieri and investigator Colaprico. Hardly a sterling example of an investigative duo, the pair find the inspiration to keep up their efforts in their own unique rapport, picking themselves up when they fall, or when a theory falls flat. Icy femmes fatales, ambiguously evil creatures, prostitutes with a mischievous streak, "geologists," rogue quartermasters, gangling waiters, speaking tongues, speaking dialects: they all meet and mingle in the modern, gleaming setting of the elegant Albergo Italia, the only hotel in Asmara, Eritrea, Italy. The missing ingredient so far? The body of a shady dealer, of course.

Carlo Lucarelli (1960, Parma) made his debut as a crime writer in 1990, with Carte Blanche, the first in a long line of detective novels that includes Via delle Oche, winner of the 1996 Scerbanenco Prize. Torn between literature, television, film and radio, as well as music, Lucarelli owes much of his success to the protagonists of his best-known series: Inspector Coliandro, police commissioner De Luca and Inspector Grazia Negro, respectively played, in the film and TV adaptations, by Giampaolo Morelli, Alessandro Preziosi and Lorenza Indovina. He has scripted a number of comic strips (a Dylan Dog, among others) and films as well (Sleepless by Dario Argento, Albakiara by Stefano Salviati), and his novels have been turned into the films Almost Blue by Alex Infascelli and Lupo mannaro by Antonio Tibaldi; the TV series L'ispettore Coliandro and Il commissario De Luca, and two episodes of Crimini: Rapidamente and Niente di personale. In 2012, Lucarelli made his directorial debut with the film L'isola dell'angelo caduto at the Rome Film Festival. He works in radio (Radio Bellablù) and television (Blu notte, La tredicesima ora) and contributes to numerous newspapers ("Il manifesto," "L'Europeo," "Il Messaggero," "XL"). He's the founder of the "Gruppo 13," an association of mystery writers in Romagna, and he's the editor of the telematic journal "Incubatoio 16". He also teaches creative writing at the Holden School in Turin and at the Due Palazzi penitentiary in Padua.