His love for thrillers blossomed with Murder in the Tremiti Isles in which the main character is a reporter from Salento, Rosario Santacroce. He will soon be involved in many other intrigues and adventures as Gioco mortale – delitto nel mondo della trasgressione with the same likable verve and curiosity. In this second adventure Saru Santacroce will explain all you want to know about the world of transgression. But your aunt Concezione will impose you not to read it...
In 2002 Picca was awarded the Piero Passetti prize for chronicler of the year. He has been a speaker or moderator at numerous conferences and has participated in many radio and television broadcasts.
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About the Book
A wealthy tourist from Bologna has been killed in the Tremiti Isles and the reporter Rosario Santacroce, a nice, talkative and charismatic Salento journalist, writes about the murder in the beautiful contest of Tremiti Islands (Puglia, South Italy). During the reading you can hear the sea, see the sun, smell good food, imagine sex meetings, live the suspense, find out Salento’s colors.
A sort of ode to life is what Rosario Santacroce offers his readers. The protagonist of this thriller is a forty year old Salento reporter who lives in Bologna and works for a local newspaper. A rough and rational man, talkative, charismatic, ready to savor every moment of life as if it was the last. Nicknamed Saru (the nickname that is given in Salento to those named like him), he covers the city's crime beat. As often happens, occasionally work also follows him on holidays because a real reporter is destined (almost) never to unplug. And that is probably why he gets entangled in the murder of a wealthy tourist from Bologna who like him is on vacation in the Tremiti Islands.
The first to rush to the scene of the crime was none other than Saru and for that reason he ends up among the suspects. Journalists of all the national newspapers arrive on the island but Saru always manages to get a bit more news than the others thanks to his friendship with the marshal of the local station who hails from the same part of Italy as him.
The story is peppered with amusing expressions in the Salento dialect related to the food, tastes and customs of that part of Italy surrounded by two seas and contains the right mix of eroticism and suspense. The author reveals the often humorous interplay between fellow-journalists, refers to real news stories and packs the investigation with twists right up to the surprise ending.
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Keep reading for an interview with the author:
Why did you decide to be a writer?
I’m a crime and judicial reporter and I work breathing crimes, murders, thrillers and suspense so it was not difficult to start writing. But I think there’s always a turning point in our life, the right moment to start doing something and I was looking for it. I started in 2004. It was a frozen evening and I was waiting for police to explain what happened in an apartment where an old woman died. The real story turned the beginning on in my mind. So I started thinking about a thriller and I wrote it. I looked for a real and honest editor to publish the romance but I haven't found it. So I put the thriller in a drawer and I wrote another one. This second one was Murder in the Tremiti Isles which is set in the Adriatic Pearls in Puglia, in the South of Italy. I created the character Rosario Santacroce, nicknamed Saru, born in Salento like me, journalist who writes about crime stories. The author reveals the often humorous interplay between fellow-journalists, refers to real news stories and packs the investigation with twists right up to the surprise ending. My stories are peppered with amusing expressions in the Salento dialect related to the food, tastes and customs of Salento, that part of South Italy surrounded by two seas, and contain the right mix of eroticism and suspense.
What inspires you to write?
I’m inspired by the reality, by my work, by what I see and I hear, by the life. I love hearing, seeing and feeling what happens around me and I write it in a romance way. I mix real life experiences and imagination. But I think reality is the most important mine we can draw fully from. When I feel a story and I have many elements to write it I start writing. For example, some months ago I read about a prisoner’s escape and my fantasy turned on pushing me writing a new episode with the character Saru Santacroce like protagonist in his Salento.
When did you first consider yourself an author?
I don’t know if I’m an author because readers, who are the right unit of measure of my talent (if I have), must say it. The most important thing for me is the opportunity to write what I feel and to amuse people who read my stories.
What are your goals as an author? Where do you see yourself in five years?
I love writing and telling stories so I hope continuing doing it and amusing readers otherwise I must thinking what doing when I’ll grow.
Have you ever had a particularly harsh critique? How did you handle it?
Until now I only received one critique. But in general, I think critiques are so good to avoid Pindaric flights. Then, you can’t be always appreciated because there are people who like you and other not. Life is the same philosophy: an important gift we have to taste also if sometimes could be hard.
What do you enjoy doing aside from writing?
I love footing. Until now I have run 12 marathons all over the world. A good way, in my opinion, to relax, feel good, think and avoid putting on weight especially if you love eating and cooking like me. I like travelling and knowing people, new point of view, new cultures, new feelings. In my opinion the best way to spend money. Then I love reading. In the past I read lots politics and historical essays, now I prefer thrillers. And, if I can, I love the other half of the sky…
If you were stranded on a deserted island, and you could only have five books with you, what would they be?
First of all a survival guide. Then, because I usually read classics and Bible, I think I would read Odyssey, Aeneid and Iliad. I hope these books will be good to expire my spare time waiting for someone to bring me back. Otherwise, If I feel good in that place, I hope finding my Friday (but woman).
What made you decide to self-publish?
I don't like the policy used by traditional editors. Particularly, I've never found a serious or professional editor and so I decided to become an indie author. In this case I be grateful for Internet and its revolution which is breaking the mortal grip of traditional editors where connection can make the difference. I don’t think all indies will become writers like someone say because readers (and market) always give you your real value. But a good prayer and some luck can help to be successful.
What are you working on now?
Now I’m working on the third adventure where Saru Santacroce writes about a prisoner killed after his escape for a big treasure. The story is set in Salento, my origin land.
What was the hardest part about writing your latest book?
In the second Italian episode (Gioco mortale – delitto nel mondo della trasgressione) Saru writes about a murder in the world of transgression. Thanks to him you can discover all you wanted to know about this world and nobody wanted to tell you. But it was very difficult to write about sex and licentiousness without falling in trash.
Do you have any advice for other authors?
They must not give up easily. If they have good and interesting stories to tell they have to write them. Readers are not stupid sheep as someone think. So if they like an author they support him despite the only thought massifying or usual editors or newspapers’ reviews.
Do you have anything specific you'd like to say to your readers?
I only hope they continue enjoying reading my stories.
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