Carofiglio, Gianrico 1961-

PERSONAL:

Born 1961.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Bari, Publia, Italy.

CAREER:

Writer, anti-Mafia prosecutor in Italy.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Marisa Rusconi award, for Involuntary Witness.

WRITINGS:

"GUIDO GUERRIERI" NOVELS

Testimone inconsapevole, Sellerio (Palermo, Italy), 2002, translation by Patrick Creagh published as Involuntary Witness, Bitter Lemon (London, England), 2005.

Ad occhi chiusi, Sellerio (Palermo, Italy), 2003, translation by Howard Curtis published as A Walk in the Dark, Bitter Lemon (London, England), 2006.

Ragionevoli Dubbi, Sellerio (Palermo, Italy), 2006.

OTHER

Il passato e una teera straniera (novel), Rizzoli (Milan, Italy), 2005.

Also author of technical manuals on witness psychology and cross-examination techniques.

ADAPTATIONS:

Work has been published in thirteen languages. Testimone inconsapevole has been adapted as a television series in Italy.

SIDELIGHTS:

Gianrico Carofiglio is an Italian prosecutor who specializes in fighting the activities of organized crime syndicates. The dangerous nature of his work has required him to make use of bodyguards and bulletproof cars. His successes in law have been spectacular, resulting in the destruction of slavery rings and the elimination of corrupt medical practices, yet Carofiglio still had the dream of fulfilling a childhood wish to become a writer. He did publish some legal, technical manuals, but this did not satisfy his urge to create fiction. In 2002 he published Testimone inconsapevole, a crime thriller featuring an intelligent, handsome Italian defense attorney named Guido Guerrieri. The book was later translated and sold as Involuntary Witness.

In Involuntary Witness, Guerrieri is presented as a jaded attorney who defies good sense and endangers his own career by defending a Senegalese peddler accused of murdering a nine-year-old boy. Though the evidence is sketchy at best, the peddler is advised to strike a plea bargain that will give him twenty years in jail. Guerrieri fights to prove his client's complete innocence, in a book that is "a powerful indictment of the Italian justice system," according to a Publishers Weekly reviewer.

Ad occhi chiusi, translated as A Walk in the Dark, concerns a woman who accuses a former boyfriend of stalking, harassing, and beating her; however, because the man is the son of an influential judge, no lawyer will take the woman's case, except for Guido Guerrieri. A Walk in the Dark was described in a Booklist review by David Pitt as "breezy and witty but also dark and moody." A Publishers Weekly reviewer also praised the book for Carofiglio's writing style and for his "colorful characters" and "unexpected plot twists."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, September 15, 2006, David Pitt, review of A Walk in the Dark, p. 31.

Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2006, review of A Walk in the Dark, p. 876.

New Yorker, December 5, 2005, Lauren Collins, profile of Gianrico Carofiglio, p. 40.

Publishers Weekly, September 26, 2005, review of Involuntary Witness, p. 65; August 28, 2006, review of A Walk in the Dark, p. 34.

ONLINE

Bookslut,http://www.bookslut.com/ (March 12, 2007), Colleen Mondor, review of A Walk in the Dark.

I Love a Mystery,http://www.iloveamysterynewsletter.com/ (February 13, 2007), Aaron Stander, review of A Walk in the Dark.

International Noir Fiction,http://internationalnoir.blogspot.com/ (May 16, 2006), Glenn Harper, review of A Walk in the Dark.

Mystery Ink,http://www.mysteryinkonline.com/ (February 13, 2008) Fiona Walker, review of A Walk in the Dark.