An Enigma by the Sea

"Doyens of the Italian detective story, Fruttero and Lucentini, offer a perfect blend of the comedy of manners and the macabre; in short, very Mediterranean mysteries." Tim Parks, author of Hotel Milano and Italian Life

In an exclusive resort on the Tuscan coast, the wealthy elite gather at their luxurious second homes for Christmas. Amid this frosty holiday idyll, a husband and wife vanish from their heavily guarded villa, and the body of Count Delaude, a dubious aristocrat, washes up on the shore, battered to death.

The ensemble cast brims with intrigue: The count, a sponger and a sham had arrived under cover of dark with a beautiful young woman scheming to be a top model. Two comedians seclude themselves as they try to overcome a writing block. One depressive, Signor Monforti, a retired academic, tries to woo a beautiful divorcee, while another, a woman this time, prepares to leave her husband. Two elderly spinsters and their Filipina maid are aghast at the awful predictions of their Tarot pack. With the local police floundering, it falls to Monforti to unravel the mystery, triumphing as an amateur detective.

"A sophisticated thriller--consistently funny. These are superbly deadpan observers of humanity." Literary Review

The Lover of No Fixed Abode in the same series was selected by Tracy Chevalier for the WSJ as first among the five best books on Venice: "...distinctive, eccentric, seductive." John Powers on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross - calls Lover of No Fixed Abode his favorite mystery novel of the year.

Author: Carlo Fruttero,Franco Lucentini
Publisher: Bitter Lemon Press
Published: 04/21/2026
Pages: 416
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 7.60h x 5.10w x 1.40d
ISBN: 9781916725195


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 02/15/2026
Publishers Weekly 03/02/2026

About the Author
Fruttero, Carlo: - Authors: Carlo Fruttero and Franco Lucentini were a well-known literary duo in Italy for several decades until Lucentini's death in 2002. For about forty years they co-wrote newspaper articles, literary essays, and published six groundbreaking and best-selling mystery novels. Their first novel, The Sunday Woman, was made into a film in 1975 starring Marcello Mastroianni, Jacqueline Bisset and Jean-Louis Trintignant. The Lover of No Fixed Abode, Runaway Horses, and An Enigma by the Sea are available in English from Bitter Lemon Press.Lucentini, Franco: - Authors: Carlo Fruttero and Franco Lucentini were a well-known literary duo in Italy for several decades until Lucentini's death in 2002. For about forty years they co-wrote newspaper articles, literary essays, and published six groundbreaking and best-selling mystery novels. Their first novel, The Sunday Woman, was made into a film in 1975 starring Marcello Mastroianni, Jacqueline Bisset and Jean-Louis Trintignant. The Lover of No Fixed Abode, Runaway Horses, and An Enigma by the Sea are available in English from Bitter Lemon Press.Dowling, Gregory: - Gregory Dowling grew up in Bristol and lives in Venice. He read English Literature at Christ Church, Oxford. He published four thrillers in the 1980s and 1990s and then devoted himself to academic work and translation. He returned to fiction in 2015, with his novel set in 18th-century Venice, Ascension. The Four Horsemen, the sequel to Ascension, came out in 2017.