The Sleeping Nymph by Ilaria Tuti

First Sentence: Teresa often thinks of death.

A 70-year-old painting, "The Sleeping Nymph," has become a case for Superintendent Teresa Battaglia when testing discovers it was painted in blood and contains small matter of a human heart. The subject was a real woman who died in 1945. The artist is still alive but hasn't spoken a word in decades. But who was this mystery woman? Who killed her? It is up to Teresa to find out.

The opening is more than just a hook, it is emotion at its most raw. Tutti doesn't write with words, she writes with images. She doesn't just show places, she takes one there, engaging all the senses. She is an author who makes one think and feel and underlining passages to be remembered—"Teresa was aware that memory was not a process of reproduction, but of reconstruction.", and "A memory is nothing more than a single clear moment recorded fortuitously by the mind and surrounded by many others, all out of focus." There are so many such moments--"Tempus valet, volat, velat." Time is valuable, it flees and it conceals.

The description of Superintendent Teresa Battilana gives one the sense of the energy which emanates from her. The relationship between Teresa and her second, Insp. Massimo Marini, is more than batman to boss but less than parent to child. There is respect, caution, a bit of fear, and distance yet caring. The banter and teasing between them is delightful. Both are complicated characters with very real fears about which one learns as the story progresses. At a point of crisis for Teresa, Tuti makes palpable Teresa's fear and confusion. The character of Blanco Zago and her human detection dog Smoky are wonderful and unexpected, but Tutti specializes in the unexpected. Blanco's explanation as to how a sniffer dog works is educational, as is the information about the partisans.

The plot deals with a murder, both during WWII and in the present, yet each element is critical to the story. The history one learns is important, as it looks at a very different culture and beliefs within a country. It is refreshing to have a book set in a less-familiar location and the Resia Valley is certainly that. It is a place where the residents live in an isolated, genetically pure commune, speak an archaic dialect, and where mysticism still lives.

As wonderful as is the writing, and as interesting as is some of the extraneous information, the plot is convoluted. The story would be much better and more suspenseful, not to mention shorter, with a strong editor at hand. The middle section is a bit of a slog, and Massimo's personal struggles do become tiresome. Even so, there is good suspense. One can't help but admire and feel the same loyalty to Teresa as does her team. She lets nothing stand in the way of solving the mystery.

"The Sleeping Nymph" is not a slam-bang type of book, and not up to the standard of Tutti's first book, "Flowers Over the Inferno." However, it is a progressive journey through history and pain, both past and present. It is self-realization and hope. It requires patience, and it is worth the journey.

THE SLEEPING NYMPH (PolProc-Sup. Teresa Battaglia, No. Italy-Contemp) - Good
Tuti, Ilaria – 2nd of trilogy
Soho Crime, Sep 2020, 458 pp.