Property Of Blood - Tapa dura

A contessa, an impoverished Florentine aristocrat, is mistakenly kidnapped in place of her wealthy daughter and kept chained up in the Tuscan hills under appalling conditions. The crime is reported very late to Marshal Guarnaccia of Florence by the daughter who knows only too well how the Sardinian shepherds are skilled in hiding their victims while waiting for a huge ransom. All this is made even more complicated by a law which freezes the assets of the family and allows 'payment for investigative purposes only'. As with all this author's thrillers, the characters are very well observed and the tension is kept up right to the end. This is a very accomplished thriller by a master of the art and will certainly add to her considerable reputation.

Olivia, an American-born model, married Count Ugo Brunamonti, a feckless, soon impoverished aristocrat. After his death, she supported her children by starting a fashion house which has prospered. When she is kidnapped, the crime is reported to Marshal Guarnaccia by her daughter, who may have been the intended victim. Kidnapping is almost a second business for the Sardinians nominally engaged in raising sheep in the Tuscan hills. They inhabit a vast wilderness where a victim can be hidden away forever, and where those searching for her will be quickly spotted. The government's official policy is not to permit the payment of ransom. But if the money isn't paid, the kidnappers cannot let their victim go free. It would set a bad example. In this case, Guarnaccia suspects another problem. Can it be that Olivia's children are unwilling to pay the ransom? Is this more than a random crime? (2003-04-02)