Commissario Cenni Investigation

Introducing Commissario Cenni of Umbria's State Police

Rita Minelli grew up in Brooklyn, the only child of a narcissistic Italian mother and the GI she married at the end of World War II. After her mother’s death, Rita quits her teaching job and descends upon her poor but aristocratic relatives, the Count and Countess Casati, in Assisi. It is a while before they realize, to their chagrin, that Rita has come to stay. But when the family assembles to watch the penitents procession in the town square during Easter Week, Rita does not join them as planned. Her corpse is later found in the family mausoleum.

Alessandro Cenni, a commissario in the State Police of Umbria, must unearth the secrets of the Casati family and their circle if he is to discover who killed Rita and why. But he is blocked by their powerful right-wing connections, and by a superior who would rather arrest a scapegoat than risk political suicide. Aided by a loyal staff in his quest for justice, he still must acknowledge that no one can defeat the last enemy, death itself.Praise for The Last Enemy

“[Brophy shows] real compassion for a middle-aged American woman who horrifies her late mother’s Italian relations by moving into their mansion in Assisi . . . The story flourishes in its cloistered setting.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“Fans of Donna Leon or Håkan Nesser will be ecstatic to find a kindred spirit in Grace Brophy.”
—BookPage, Mystery of the Month

“Evocative . . . Cenni is well set up to return, and traditional mystery readers should welcome his continued investigations.”
—The Baltimore Sun

“The Last Enemy, Grace Brophy’s mystery in an Umbrian setting like no other, serves up more delights than the local pasticceria. The murder of Italian-American Rita Minelli during Holy Week in Assisi, with its warren of winding alleys, hidden squares and steep cobbled stairways, poses questions for Commissario Alessandro Cenni, not the least, those concerning a 17th-century manuscript, a Croatian immigrant, and a reclusive Contessa. With pressure from Rome, the Commissario’s own job is on the line. Brophy’s wry laser-like insight probes the layers of Italian aristocracy, the police system and the clergy with a sure, deft touch.”
—Cara Black, New York Times Born in New Jersey to Irish parents, Grace Brophy lived and worked as a teacher and systems engineer in New York City until 2001, when she and her late husband, figurative painter Miguel Peraza, traveled to Italy with their two cats. While still in Italy, she began The Last Enemy, her first work of fiction. Her second Commissario Cenni novel, A Deadly Paradise, is also published by Soho Press.