An American author, whose conspiracy thrillers are bestsellers across the world, moves his family to Florence, Italy in order to do some research for a new book. He soon discovers his idyllic home overlooks an area in which two lovers were brutally murdered many years before. That their murders, and those of a dozen other young lovers found in similar circumstances, were never solved intrigues him. He befriends a journalist there whose obsession with solving the case is infectious, and the two of them join forces to answer the question, “Who is the Monster of Florence?”

Along the way to answering this question that has plagued Florence for decades they become involved in the mire of the ongoing investigation and are soon caught up in an intrigue much more personal than they would ever have dreamed – they both become suspects (or at least suspected of being conspirators) in at least one of the murders. This would make a really good novel, but what do you need fiction for when the truth is so much stranger?

Douglas Preston, American author of The Codex (among many other bestselling thrillers) and Mario Spezi (Italian journalist) find themselves in exactly this situation, and the story they spin together in “The Monster of Florence” would be totally implausible were it not true. Along the way the reader is treated to glimpses of the seamier side of Florence that belie its reputation as birthplace of the Renaissance, regaled with inside stories of Italian society, and amused by the eccentricities of the inhabitants of this grand city.

Il mostro di Firenze, who began his murder spree in 1968 (or was it 1961? Or 1951?) last made his handiwork known in 1985, and to this day the mystery of who he is remains unanswered.

Or is that “they?” Or what?

Don’t start this one if you have plans.