A party in black marks the closure of the second series of novels written by Alice Bassoan author who, deservedly, can count on many readers who are very fond of her stories.
Basso, born in ’79, lives in Piedmont and works for various publishing houses. After proposing the series of books dedicated to the adventures of ghostwriter Vani Sarca (The unpredictable plan of the nameless writer, Writing is a dangerous profession, Don’t tell the writer, The mystery writer And A special case for the ghostwriterall published by Garzanti), in 2020 a new protagonist debuted, Anitaat the center of works such as The bite of the viper, The cry of the rose, A star without light And The eagles of the night.
This second series (also published by Garzanti), set in 1930s Italytherefore we now close with A party in black.
THE PLOT OF THE NEW NOVEL
The book is set in Turin of the 1935: the headlights of the Balilla Spider Sport cut through the darkness of the night. The fact that a woman was driving might seem strange for the time, but not for Anita. For months, in fact, he has been doing things that are not exactly appropriate for a woman, not to mention unbecoming, certainly forbidden. Like postponing your wedding with Corrado just because you want to try to work. How to write, under the pseudonym JD Smith, crime stories inspired by current events to bring a bit of justice where it no longer exists. A secret that he shares with Sebastiano Satta Ascona, editor of the magazine Saturnalia. To be fair, writing isn’t the only forbidden thing they do together. But now something has changed, that’s why Anita is in that car.
Now someone has started following them. Now there’s a beige raincoat always one step behind them. And you can’t joke with spies. You can’t stop to talk too long, sometimes you just have to do what they ask. Even if it’s not right. Even if the requests end up distorting the peaceful existence of a group of people that Anita can now call friends. Among them there is the wise Clara, the irreverent Candida, the sweet Diana, the charming Julian, the rebel Rodolfo and of course Sebastiano. His Sebastian. Why do they live such difficult years? Why can’t they trust anyone but each other? Why don’t they stop keeping an eye on them? Anita has no answers, perhaps the protagonists of the detective stories she has learned to love might have them.
Or they too could do nothing but tell her not to be afraid, that danger is the adrenaline of life. But Anita isn’t used to running away. She’s not used to lying. Suddenly she’s in one of JD Smith’s stories, only this time Anita doesn’t have the slightest idea how it might end…
THE AUTHOR’S WORD
Alice Basso, how do you feel about the arrival in bookstores of the latest chapter of a series you’ve been working on for years?
“First of all, let’s be on first terms, for God’s sake, because this matter of Anita’s series having already ended is already making me feel too old. It seems like yesterday that I announced the first book and I was rolling around like a husky in the snow (even though it was late spring) in doubts and fears that it wouldn’t be received well!
And instead…
“Yes, Anita has made her way and now here I am sniffling all moved by the comments that say ‘Oh God, is it the end already? I will miss her.’ Let me know, darlings. But that’s okay: although it’s always a bit of a trauma (and is followed by the terror of having to start from scratch every time with a new character), I continue to be a proud supporter of short and conclusive series, with a head and a tail. , a beginning and an end, possibly not too far from each other and planned from the beginning”.
What will you miss most about Anita?
“Meanwhile, the network of characters she is part of, not just her. I really like creating, shall we say?, ‘families’, casts to move in sync book after book and to become attached to (me first) like a small community. When it’s time to part with it, it’s like saying goodbye to, I don’t know, holiday friends. And then my cross and delight: the historical setting. Dedicate time to study, delve deeper, take notes, discover details, choose how (or whether) to use this or that; and then also correct, retouch, ask for help from Garzanti’s invaluable editorial team to verify something. But in truth I won’t really miss it, because I’m already studying just as much for the next series (even if it won’t be historical). Uh, am I spoiling too much? I’ll sew my mouth shut! Well, in short, it was just to say that, apparently, I really don’t want to have time off from studying to read the novels that suit me.”
Since you talked about the study phase, what were the main difficulties in setting the novels in Turin in the 1930s?
“Recreate a credible, lively, colourful, immersive environment, and at the same time avoid the pedantry that – let’s face it – historical reconstructions often bring with them. Sometimes it is very frustrating to read a ton of pages describing this neighborhood, or this profession, and then having to work hard to reduce the amount of information to the strictly indispensable, but well-selected one, which gives back the right image but without weighing it down. After all, it is a series of ironic mysteries, even before being historical: the reader approaches it first of all to be entertained, and would not be prepared to receive paragraphs upon paragraphs of very detailed descriptions right in front of him, as is instead normal for those who consciously choose a historical novel in the bookstore.”
In this regard, the intersection between crime fiction and comedy – which has always characterized the plots of your books – greatly fascinates today’s readers: why, in your opinion?
“Well, I can tell you why it fascinates me, as I am a user, as well as an author, of books like this: I recognize an internal conflict between, on the one hand, curiosity, the desire to learn, to discover things that are not I knew, to peek beyond walls and walls, and on the other hand the desire for lightness, to ‘switch off’ from days that were already demanding enough for me to want to work hard even when I start reading. So, if something comes into my hands that entertains me without requiring particular effort, and at the same time opens me up to new knowledge, I am the happiest person in the world.”
First Vani Sarca, then Anita: have you anticipated the new series… do you already have the protagonist in mind?
“Ah, but then you really want to drag me down the forbidden path of the spoiler! Look, let’s say that I have not one but a couple of projects in the pipeline that I’ve been holding back from babbling about for months, at presentations, in interviews, for months. And it’s not easy, because when I’m passionate about something I become even more talkative than normal (and yes, it seems impossible). So, in short: you don’t want to destroy my months-long commitment to doing things in order and not worrying about the future when there’s still a whole exciting Anitesque present to finish exploring together, right?”.
