Rino Casazza

Rino Casazza

was born in Sarzana in 1958.
This charming little town on the border between Tuscany and Liguria is a kind of literary omen. At the end of the 1930s, it was indeed the scene of the most surprising and ferocious "crime story" in Italian history (one in which reality definitely overcomes the most unbridled imagination). To know more about it, a curious reader can read "Il Mostro di Sarzana" ["The Sarzana Monster"] the reconstruction of the events, supplied with documentary evidence, Casazza has written together with Alex Montecchi - published in n.1 of "M-La Rivista del Mistero", Edizioni Addictions, 1999.

Sarzana is again the inevitable scene of the crime of Casazza’s first detective novel. Published last year [1999] by Mario Modica Editore, Pavia, L’Unico Testimone [The Only Witness] is a story with strong horror features (click here). The hidden links between this "imagined" plot and the real events of "The Sarzana Monster" are so strong that Casazza has been thinking of writing a sequel entitled Il Ritorno di Vizzardelli [Vizzardelli’s Comeback]. Here the two plots should converge and intertwine on the background of a future Italy. Casazza thus intends to merge features of different genres such as the detective and horror stories, the thriller and science fiction.

The author, who, both as a reader and as a writer, has always been passionately fond of the different aspects these literary kinds offer, has already produced two experimental works which mix different genres: the horror story/thriller "Fauci di Belva" ["The Beast’s Jaws"] - published in "Inchiostro", 1996 - and a short story, of the kind where reality and fiction mingle, entitled "Un Braccio di Troppo" ["One Arm too much"] - in "Cambio", 1998.

The very short divertissement "Salvo!?" ["Saved!?"] is also pure fiction and it is published on the site Spazio Autori of the Stampa Alternativa (click here to read it).

On the contrary, the two novellas "A Carnevale ogni ScherzoVale" [" At Carnival a joke is a joke" ] -published as an appendix to Giallo Mondadori n.1452, 1996 - and "Il Delitto della Cabina Chiusa" [The locked beach cabin Murder"] - in "G-La Rivista del Giallo", n.2 year III, 1998 - are rigorous examples of what may be called the "enigmatic detective story". Here, a mysterious murder, a closed situation, and a limited number of characters are presented: the latter may all have committed the crime, but there is only one culprit, as the detective finally demonstrates, adopting a surprising but incontrovertible, deductive logic.

These stories have the unusual peculiarity of setting the classic "mystery" story of Anglo-saxon origins in an uncommon , contemporary Italian scenery. A fancy-dress party, where ex comrade-at-arms meet again, and a children sea-side summer camp are the background for an unusual detective figure: a catholic priest who is fond of detection.

Two more detective stories, which are in fact closer to the "black’ genre, are "Vicini di Casa" ["Neighbours"] - in "Inchiostro" 1998 - and "La Vera Morte di Cavaradossi" ["Cavaradossi’s true Death"] - in "Addictions", 1999.

The first chapter of the novel BURT is available on the web site Alosi.it. Click here to read it.