Lone Wolf

May 2, 2016
Gregorio’s taut sequel to 2015’s Cry Wolf finds Italian park ranger and wolf expert Sebastiano Cangio on duty at the Sibillines National Park in Umbria, where he’s summoned to a grisly crime scene in the woods. Seb must identify the headless body of his park ranger partner, Marzio Diamante, who was recently worried about cultists in the national forest. Two years previously, Seb discovers, Marzio compiled a file of sightings of elves and goblins. While Seb and the carabiniere try to solve Marzio’s murder, Simone Candelora, a lieutenant in the ’Ndrangheta (the Calabrian mafia), starts a new cocaine-smuggling venture using a struggling truffle business as cover. Seb must think like a wolf to escape the suspicions of the carabiniere and the malice of the ’Ndrangheta. Gregorio (the pen name of spouses Michael G. Jacob and Daniela De Gregorio) maintains the high tension throughout with plenty of plot twists to keep readers guessing until the explosive conclusion.

May 1, 2016
An Italian park ranger becomes a target of an organized crime family, or maybe of demonic fairies roaming the forest. After witnessing a Mafia murder and going on the run (Cry Wolf, 2015), Sebastiano Cangio has found peace, and even a girlfriend, in his new life as a ranger in Umbria's Sibillines Mountains National Park. Little does he know that after a cooling-off period, Mafia chief Don Michele, who's currently transporting drugs in jars of truffles, plans to return to the area and has not forgotten about the "nosy park ranger" who thwarted him. Cangio finds senior ranger Marzio Diamante, with his stolid manner and tales of hobgoblins in the forest, quite a character. When Marzio is found savagely killed, Cangio wonders whether his fanciful stories have come true or, more likely, his former nemesis Don Michele has returned and murdered the senior ranger by mistake, thinking it's him. There is clear evidence that Marzio was secretly investigating something criminal. A sense of responsibility prompts Cangio to retrace his late colleague's final steps. He stumbles near the lair of the villains when he questions truffle hunters Manlio and Teo Pastore, who unhelpfully champion the myth of evil forest elves. Also in the mix are a histrionic medium and a squad of meddling cops anxious to impede Cangio's probe. The second in this new series by the prolific Gregorio deftly walks a fine line, simmering with cheeky humor but maintaining the tension of the plot.

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April 1, 2015

In this series launch from husband-and-wife team Michael Jacob and Daniela De Gregorio ("Hanno Stiffenis" mysteries), a young park ranger in Umbria faces off against the 'Ndrangheta, a powerful Calabrian crime family.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2017
Italian park ranger Sebastiano Cangio (Think Wolf, 2016) returns in another menacing thriller set in Umbria. Wolves are his passion and being a park ranger is his love, but Seb dabbles in crime solving and has a way of finding himself on the radar of some very bad people. A year ago, he was nearly killed by a member of the 'Ndrangheta, Calabria's version of the Mafia, and six months ago the gang tried again. Now, he's back in the 'Ndrangheta's sights because his old nemesis, Captain Lucia Grossi of the special crimes squad, co-opts Seb to help her with a case involving the murder of a man at London Stansted Airport. The man flew in from Italy, and Scotland Yard wants Grossi to know what he was doing in the country and whether his reason for being there led to his murder. What no one knows is that the case revolves around the fact that the local head of the 'Ngrangheta is losing his sight, and he's desperate to keep from going blind. Gregorio offers up a nightmarish plot, white-knuckle suspense, and believable characters in this gripping thriller.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

July 17, 2017
In Gregorio’s uneven third thriller featuring Italian park ranger Sebastiano Cangio (after 2016’s Think Wolf), Insp. Desmond Harris, of Scotland Yard’s Organized Crime Unit, needs help identifying a male corpse found in a rural area outside London. It’s not an easy task, since the killer doused the man’s head and hands—as well as his genitals—with acid after shooting him in what appears to have been a professional hit. A restaurant bill in the victim’s pocket suggests that he recently ate a meal in Umbria, where Harris meets with Cangio, who once lived in London. While Cangio assists Harris with the murder case, some monstrous thing is attacking and disemboweling livestock in the forests of Umbria. The creepy atmospherics of Gregorio’s masterly Hanno Stiffeniis historical series (Critique of Criminal Reason, etc.) are evident in the book’s best sections, but excessive gore may put off some readers. Gregorio is the husband-wife writing team of Daniela De Gregorio and Michael G. Jacob.

Starred review from March 1, 2015
After witnessing a deadly Mafia hit in his home region of Calabria, Sebastiano Cangio, a student with a lifelong passion for researching the lives of wolves, fears Mafia retribution and flees Italy for London. After a few miserable months as a real-estate agent, Sebastiano is desperate to return home and applies for a job as a park ranger in Umbria, one of Italy's most beautiful and unspoiled regions and, most important, one that's far away from the Mafia. It's a dream jobuntil Sebastiano discovers a body in the park and realizes it has all the marks of a Mafia hit. The local police seem surprisingly unconcerned, and Sebastiano soon realizes he can either look the other way or he can try to fight against the corruption and violence the Mafia will bring to his adopted region. An unexpected but suspicious source of support comes from General Corsini, the head of Italy's secret police, but the odds remain stacked strongly against Sebastiano. Outstanding writing, a suspenseful and terrifying plot, and enough twists to keep even the most seasoned reader guessing, this is a terrific read that belongs in all mystery collections.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)