Elena Piacentini is the bestselling author of the investigations of Commander Leoni, a native Corsican born in Bastia but living in Lille. She returns with “Vaste comme la nuit,” a dark and poetic crime novel, published last August by Fleuve Éditions.
When her former team leader, Lazaret, suddenly disappears at sea, Mathilde Sénéchal loses quite a few bearings. It gets even worse when she discovers he has left her a mysterious letter urging her to resolve an old case that directly concerns her.
Thirty years ago, in a small village of a few houses, bordered on one side by the forest and on the other by the Eaulne, a peaceful river, a young woman named Jeanne disappeared. No body was ever found, and everyone seems to have an alibi. But Mathilde was there at the time; she was nine years old, and it is the village of her childhood.
She will have to confront her past, a past she always chose to bury, but now she must overcome it to finally move forward for herself, as well as for Adèle and Orsalhièr.
Arcourt is a village that could be idyllic, but too many ghosts haunt its outskirts; a beast strangler roams the forest, and mint fragrances knock Mathilde out. It is far from the usual darkness of the cities that Elena Piacentini sets her investigation, in a small town where evil takes its roots in the past. With skill, she weaves a web around Mathilde, forcing her to unveil all the secrets, some of which are very old.
Elena Piacentini’s unique writing will draw you closer to her characters: Mathilde, of course, Orsalhièr, Adèle, Jehan, Lazaret absent yet terribly present, the incredible Hortense… She also takes the time to establish an atmosphere, a setting, to allow the investigation to unfold. It is not a fast-paced thriller, which would suit neither Mathilde nor the plot.
With her human and poetic writing style, Elena Piacentini delivers a dark crime novel focused on her heroine.
