“Do not miss Red Riviera” New Review Praises David Downie’s Latest
The Part-Time Parisian's new review of Red Riviera praises the tactfully drawn history and landscape of Italy's coast in Downie's new thriller.
David Downie made his career as a travel writer, penning famous and popular guides to European cities like Paris and Amsterdam. Not only is he obsessed with traveling, but like any writer he is as much a researcher as a chronicler. For this reason, the Italian Riviera (his current home), feels unique and alive in Red Riviera. In their review of the new thriller, The Part-Time Parisian delves into the unique history of the Italian coast that works under the hood to help make the novel a compelling read.
Excerpts Below. Read the whole review Here. And buy the book Here.
"Like the best of mysteries, Red Riviera has deep roots in the tumultuous past, World War II.
The war was not kind to Italy, which had fallen under the spell of a bombastic leader...
Some of the people and much of the philosophy lived on. This book is the story of a talented police commissioner from Genoa, a woman rising toward the pinnacle of the police establishment at the same time she fears approaching spinsterhood, and her efforts to learn why a retired American spy, a native of Genoa, disappeared at the same time Canadair water bombers were trying to extinguish fires in the forests and brush overlooking the Ligurian Coast.
That’s not the only problem she has. HER vice questor is a couple of notches more diabolical than the one Guido Brunetti must deal with in Venice and he’s not convinced modern Italy is ready for democracy."
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ASP Intern and Washington College Senior Eylie Sasajima on Her First AWP Conference
An interview with the late, great Linda Pastan
Along the indifferent corridors / of space, angels could be hiding,” Linda Pastan wrote in her poem “Muse.” ASP honors the legacy of Linda Pastan (1932–2023), a former Poet Laureate of Maryland, who passed away last week. Pastan was the author of the 2018 poetry book A Dog Runs Through It, which won the Towson University Literary Award.
Here’s to 2022! And Here’s a Sale…
2022 was a big year for ASP and our writers. In March, we had a booth at the annual AWP Conference, and our offsite reading, featuring authors Saida Agostini, Dave Housley, Elizabeth Hazen, and Richard Peabody, along with special guests Teri Ellen Cross Davis and Leslie Pietrzyk, had a standing-room-only audience packed with literary stars.