The Last Days of Il Duce

by Domenic Stansberry

Book Overview

A darkly elegant novel written in the tradition of the classic noir mysteries of the 1940s, this story is set in the old Italian neighborhood of North Beach in San Francisco, where Niccolo Jones is a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312254636
• ISBN13: 9780312254636
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.1" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

the 'ole neighborhood

I got the distinct feeling that the entire story was just fluffy padding around the wound left by the loss of the old neighborhood and the old way of life, and the security it engendered towards its residents ...like nothing would change and you could always count on everything and everybody there..this character was caught up in the past in every sense and was finding it impossible to let go and deliberately kept trying to dig deeper into the past knowing he would regret it...gut wrenching story made you really feel his pain..

Noir Masterpiece

A friend recommended this book to me sometime ago, with rave reviews, but I put off reading it. It turned out to be a rare treat. Before returning to Italy, I spent a number of years in North Beach, and Stansberry has it right, the big and the small, from the idiosyncratic spellings of the Italian American names to the community's nostalgia for a time that never truly existed. He understands the neighbhorhood--and the people who lived there (or did once upon a time) and the underlying murder story is both suspenseful and lyric in the fashion of the noir writers of the forty's and fifties. You won't get Michael Conoley style thrill a minute here, but Stansberry is ultimately a better writer, with a more subtle agenda, and the book is truly gripping. Among affeciondos of the noir genre, this book has the reputation as a small canvas masterpiece--and in my opinion this is a reputation well-deserved. My only question: When are we going to get more from books from this talented writer?

Califonia Noir

Old time California noir in North Beach. The kind of crime novel that makes me wish their were more crime novels like this. Stansberry captures the gritty undercurrent of grime and sadness in a a dead end romance that reminds me of John Fante and Leonard Gardner in the quality of its prose. Like them, he is a writer out-of-the-mainstream whose characters resonate with the California dream knocked punchy. It's got tension,too. A short book, an afternoon's read, cinematic and sparse. One of my favorites.

A True Thriller

If this is not a thriller, I don't know what is. The story reminds me of Chinatown, or Body Heat, only set in San Francisco. Intense story, lyric prose, great ending. Stansberry really captures the violent and romance of the old Italian neighborhoods.

I loved it!

This little book really knocked me backed on my heels. Domenic Stansberry is easily one of the best noir writers working today. It reminded me of James Cain at his peak. Hard, crisp writing, a ferocious plot--and wonderful portrayals of the fading Italian community in San Francisco. I loved it!