The internationally acclaimed crime thriller set in the Italian Alps: "Written in a style both colorful and ironic [by] a great storyteller" ( Suspense Magazine).
Getting into serious trouble with the wrong people, deputy prefect of police Rocco Schiavone is exiled to Aosta, a small, touristy alpine town far from his beloved Rome. The sophisticated and crotchety Roman despises mountains and snow as much as he disdains his superiors and their petty rules. But when a body is discovered on a ski run above Champoluc, Rocco is once again at home-on the trail of a killer.
Identifying the victim is a challenge in itself, complicated by Rocco's ignorance of local customs and history. As he encounters the enigmatic folk of Aosta-and a few beautiful locals eager to give him a warm welcome-Rocco realizes that murder is never a simple affair.
"The ranks of impressive Euro Noir novelists is swelled by the gritty Antonio Manzini, whose Black Run... underlines its genre-credentials with a superstructure of diamond-hard crime writing." - Financial Times

Antonio Manzini is an actor, a screenwriter, a director, and the author of two murder mysteries featuring Deputy Police Chief Rocco Schiavone. Black Run is the first of these novels to be translated into English. He lives in Italy.

Already an international hit, a sly, sizzling mystery—the first in a sensational crime series—set in the Italian Alps, reminiscent of the works of Andrea Camilleri, D. A. Mishani, Donna Leon, and Henning Mankell.

Getting into serious trouble with the wrong people, deputy prefect of police Rocco Schiavone is exiled to Aosta, a small, touristy alpine town far from his beloved Rome. The sophisticated and crotchety Roman despises mountains, snow, and the provincial locals as much as he disdains his superiors and their petty rules. But he loves solving crimes.

When a mangled body has been discovered on a ski run above Champoluc, Rocco immediately faces his first challenge—identifying the victim, a complex procedure complicated by his ignorance of the customs, dialect, and history of his new home. Proud and undaunted, Rocco makes his way among the ski runs, mountain huts, and aerial tramways, meeting ski instructors, Alpine guides, the hardworking, enigmatic folk of Aosta, and a few beautiful locals eager to give him a warm welcome.

It won't be easy, this mountain life, especially with a corpse or two in the mix. But then there's nothing that makes Rocco feel more at home than an investigation.

An insightful observer of human nature, Antonio Manzini writes with sly humor and a dash of irony, and introduces an irresistible hero—a fascinating blend of swagger, machismo, and vulnerability—in a colorful and atmospheric crime mystery series that is European crime fiction at its best.