The return of a bookseller with a passion for thrillers, an unlikely yet witty mystery solver, along with his two black cats. " The Cat Factor ," the third volume in the cozy mystery series by Piergiorgio Pulixi, is being published today in the "Lucciole" series by Marsilio . now moving the setting from the capital to the wild Serpentara.
The publication is accompanied by a presentation tour on the island, promoted as part of the Éntula festival: the first stop is today in Cagliari , from 6.30pm at the Centro La Vetreria – where the journalist Alessandra Ghiani will be in conversation with the author – continuing then towards San Pietro a Mare di Valledoria next Monday 21st at 7pm , in the company of his colleague Cristiano Idini , and the Ex Ma.Ter of Sassari the following day at 9pm , this time in conversation with Roberto Uzzau , to finally end on Wednesday 23rd in Villagrande Strisaili , from 6pm in Piazza di Chiesa in a conversation with the publicist Giusy Ferreli .
Conceived by Pulixi as a lighter genre than the dark, intricate noir novels for which he is known by readers, the adventures of the "almost by accident" bookseller Marzio Montecristo begin in 2023 with "The Black Cats' Bookshop ", with a sequel in " If Cats Could Talk " (2025). After leaving his teaching post, Montecristo runs the small bookshop specializing in crime novels " Les Chats Noirs " in Cagliari, spending his working days with his two cats Miss Marple and Poirot , who appeared one day and never left, and with his young collaborator of Eritrean origins Patricia , as well as with the reading group " Gli Investigi del Martedì ", a close-knit and heterogeneous team of mystery fanatics.
In this third novel, however, the alleys and walls of the city center now give way to the rugged and pristine shores of the islet of Serpentara : it is here that Valérie de Gramont , scion of a wealthy line of bankers, is about to marry the Englishman Thomas Stuart in a more than exclusive wedding. Valérie herself sends Montecristo a request to purchase all the titles in her library, so as to recreate it identically on the island as a wedding gift. The bookseller therefore lands on Serpentara, once again accompanied by his cats and the Tuesday detectives, when suddenly a mysterious and brutal murder casts a shadow of suspicion over everyone present , isolated in a narrow setting and surrounded by the sea on every side. A heartfelt and declared homage to Agatha Christie and her "And Then There Were None," full of humor, suspense, and plot twists in an "elegant and ferocious" classical detective story.
