Ontreto

Arriving on the unspoiled island of Lipari, off the coast of Sicily, Ric Ross carries with him a letter of introduction to Valeria Vaccariello, an aging star of Italian cinema who lives alone in the House of Strangers; a woman known locally as la strega – the witch. Ric is also befriended by Il Velaccino, a sailmaker who seems to know everyone and everything that goes on in the island. But when a politician is shot dead, Ric’s search for his family’s history soon grows into a quest to prove his innocence... Ontreto is a contemporary crime thriller, told through the eyes of a young man who comes to the island of Lipari in search of his forebears. It is the standalone follow-up to Peter Crawley’s first novel, Mazzeri.

Peter Crawley was born in Chiswick in 1956. He was educate­d at Cranleigh School in England and at the Goethe Institut Freiburg-im-Breisgau in Germany. He spent much of his youth in Germany, Austria, France and Corsica. Mazzeri, his first novel, was published by Matador in 2013 and Boarding House Reach, his second, in 2014. He is a former transatlantic yachtsman and historic motor racing driver. His interests include his family, his research, writing and skiing. He lives in Chertsey, Surrey, with his wife, Carol. They have three daughters.