Between 1968 and 1985, a series of double murders horrified the province of Florence, Italy. These murders have been laid at the feet of Il Mostro di Firenze, The Monster of Florence. Douglas Preston, author of Relic and other novels with his writing partner Lincoln Child, moved to Florence to write a novel, only to find that one of the aforementioned murders happened across the street from his house. Thus began a years long fascination with the serial killer, and the abandonment of his very purpose for […]
A Monstrous Nightmare
In 2000, writer Douglas Preston moved his family to a villa in Tuscany so he could work on a new mystery that would take place in Florence. Soon after, he discovers that a clearing near his new house was the scene of a gruesome double murder. The murder was attributed to the Monster of Florence, a serial killer who targeted young couples and was still at large. Preston abandons his novel and begins working on a nonfiction work about the Monster, teaming up with Mario […]
The Italian police are just the worst.
I picked up The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi several times at my local used book store and the library before I actually bought it. The cover, which depicts a Renaissance sculpture, suggests that the “True Story” takes place at that time. In reality, the Monster of Florence murders occurred between 1968 and 1985, and were never solved. The scandalous killings of 16 people, each involved couples, murdered at local trysting spots amongst the hillsides around the city of Florence. Both […]