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Italian lawyer Guido Guerrieri has not always been proud of the cases he has won. However, following a painful separation Guido undergoes a personal crisis that has a transformative effect on his moral outlook. When a nine year old boy is found murdered at the bottom of a well close to a well-known beach in Southern Italy local police are quick to label a Senegalese peddler as the culprit. Guido is approached to defend the peddler called Abdou Thiam although the weight of evidence against him seems overwhelming before the trial has even started. But Guido is quick to see the inconsistencies in the reports gathered about the case and soon comes to realise that Thiam is effectively being framed and demonised because of his ethnic background.

The novel takes a hard look at the Italian legal system and the widespread racism against African immigrants and reaches a number of uncomfortable conclusions. This gripping and enthralling legal thriller is also a highly enjoyable portrait of a flawed but humane central protagonist set against the landscapes and cityscapes of the Puglia region of the Italian south.

Author Gianrico Carofiglio is himself something of a fascinating figure having been an anti-Mafia prosecutor in Bari who is now a member of the Italian Senate. Involuntary Witness was a major bestseller in Italy and is now being published as a paperback translation by Bitter Lemon Press.

Humorous, cultured and thoughtful with a narrative driven by short espresso fuelled chapters Involuntary Witness offers a gritty roman noir told with flair and style.

Giles Morgan

Involuntary Witness

Gianrico Carofiglio

Bitter Lemon Press, £7.99, 9781904738527