Elizabeth Heider, May the Wolf Die

 In Italy, if you want to wish someone luck before an exam or other stressful event, you might use a phrase that translates literally as "in the mouth of the wolf." The appropriate response translates literally as "may the wolf die." In Elizabeth Heider's new crime novel May the Wolf Die, she makes no reference to this common use of the phrase. Instead, she portrays a number of more literal, but human, wolves: predators who attack women, ordinary citizens, and anyone who gets in their way. The novel is set in contamporary Naples, so some (but not all) of the wolves are associated with the Camorra (the Neapolitan Mafia) or the crime families that are attempting to take its place. But the main line of the narrative pursues wolves in the  upper ranks of the U.S. Navy, who prey on young naval officers. Heider's two main characters are Nikki and Valerio, who are not a romantic couple bt share the ownership of a sailboat. Valerio is a detective in the Neapolitan police and Nikki is employed in a special office tasked with mediating between U.S. military personnel stationed in Naples and the police or any other government offices with which they might come into contact. Heider was herself employed in such a role in Naples at one time.

    The novel centers on two corpses, both discovered by Nikki in the first chapters. Both turn out to have links to the U.S. Navy, so the local police collaborate with both an NCIS agentm representing the Nav, and Nikki, as a go-between overseeing the interests of everyone concerned. Ths line of the story is very interestingm reflecting the conflicting interests. of all the parties involved in a straightforward police procedural ultimately involving Valerio and otehr cops. But there are several side plots having to do with various \wolves that impact the pribatye lives of Nikki and Valerio. For these side plots to make sense, Heider spends considerable time on the back stories and current lives of these two characters, but mostly o Nikki and her lovers and family members.For me these storylines were distracting, at least up to the end when everything converges in a propulsive and involving manner.

    Nikki is an interesting character, determined to be self-reliant and not dependent on male protectors, a character trait that is much tested, right up to the ending. Along the way, there is a lot of action: more murders, intimidation, violence against women, poisonous office politics, arrogant Naval officers, ruthless gangsters, and multiple views of Naples and surroundings, not to mention an overlay of references to Dante's Inferno. By the end, my frustration with some of the subplots was forgotten in the rapidly mounting threats and violence. xzx