TOM BENJAMIN
Author of the Daniel Leicester mysteries
TOM BENJAMIN
Tom began his career as a reporter in north London before becoming a spokesman for Scotland Yard. He went on to work in international aid and public health before moving to Bologna with his Italian wife. Tom's first job in Bologna as a doorman at a homeless canteen exposed him to an Italy less travelled and helped inspire his debut A Quiet Death In Italy. This was followed in 2021 by food-themed The Hunting Season, 2022's Requiem in la Rossa, which explores Bologna's rich musical and educational heritage, Italian Rules or The Three Endings of Toni Fausto, in 2023, Last Testament in Bologna, 2024, The Bologna Vendetta, 2025, and Old Bones in Puglia in 2026. Writing as Alex Makepeace, he also publishes speculative fiction, including Canaries with Elsewhen Press in 2025.
English detective Daniel Leicester walks the shadowy porticoes of ‘the red city’ in a series that evokes the beauty of Bologna but doesn’t spare her blushes. Expect equal servings of the local cuisine and ubiquitous graffiti as Daniel unravels the mystery of modern-day Italy with dogged determination and dry wit.
Published by Constable, Little,Brown
Represented by The Bill Goodall Literary Agency
OLD BONES IN PUGLIA
May, 2026
English detective and Bologna resident Daniel Leicester has been summoned by a dying relative to the wildest corner of Puglia, home to revered saints, fearsome mafia clans, hidden catacombs and sinister ceremonies.
As Daniel discovers that his Italian family's history runs deep in the veins of the region, old grudges resurface and life is breathed into ancient superstitions. He is enchanted by the mysteries of the region and joins a search for stolen antiquities, but when a contact is gruesomely murdered by mobsters, it's clear that mafia rule is more powerful than local mysticism.
Lured by magic but trapped by the mob, Daniel finds himself unable to return to his beloved Bologna. His family is bound to Puglia more tightly than he ever imagined, and powerful people want answers he can't give.
And when Daniel's daughter is snatched during a Holy Week procession, he sees first-hand just how far they're prepared to go...
'Full of treachery, intriguing characters, and a story that ends up knee-deep in the mafia! . . . authenticity radiates from the page' - Books by Bindu
THE BOLOGNA VENDETTA
May, 2025
In the oppressive heat of summer in Bologna, English detective Daniel Leicester is reliving his beloved wife Lucia's final days. Vivid memories have been awakened by the sight of her bicycle, missing since the accident that killed her, ridden by a stranger through the city's tight medieval streets.
As unfinished business bleeds - quite literally - into the present, the sickening realisation that Lucia's death wasn't accidental dawns on Daniel. He embarks on a quest for the truth, and this most personal of crusades leads him to two contrasting worlds: the secretive, ancient realm of freemasonry, and the revolutionary 'Reclaim Bologna' activist movement.
What links these two opposing factions? Is there a chance Lucia wasn't the woman Daniel believed her to be? And will the truth be too painful, or too perilous, to bear?
'Steeped in atmosphere and intrigue, The Bologna Vendetta burrows under the skin of contemporary Italy. Intelligent, incisive and compelling.' - Orlando Murrin, author of Knife Skills for Beginners
LAST TESTAMENT IN BOLOGNA
May, 2024
In the oppressive heat of summer in Bologna, English detective Daniel Leicester is reliving his beloved wife Lucia's final days. Vivid memories have been awakened by the sight of her bicycle, missing since the accident that killed her, ridden by a stranger through the city's tight medieval streets.
As unfinished business bleeds - quite literally - into the present, the sickening realisation that Lucia's death wasn't accidental dawns on Daniel. He embarks on a quest for the truth, and this most personal of crusades leads him to two contrasting worlds: the secretive, ancient realm of freemasonry, and the revolutionary 'Reclaim Bologna' activist movement.
What links these two opposing factions? Is there a chance Lucia wasn't the woman Daniel believed her to be? And will the truth be too painful, or too perilous, to bear?
'Steeped in atmosphere and intrigue, The Bologna Vendetta burrows under the skin of contemporary Italy. Intelligent, incisive and compelling.' - Orlando Murrin, author of Knife Skills for Beginners
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ITALIAN RULES
May, 2023
When Hollywood comes to Bologna, La Dolce Vita turns sweet murder...
A famous Hollywood director arrives in Bologna to remake a cult film and the city's renown cinema archive decides to mark the occasion with a screening of the original, only to discover it has disappeared.
After English detective Daniel Leicester follows the trail of Love on a Razorblade to an apparent murder-suicide, he begins to suspect there may be more at stake than missing negatives - could the film contain a clue to one of the city's most enduring mysteries? Together with a star from the forthcoming remake, Daniel moves from the glamour of Venice Lido to the depths of Bologna's secret tunnel system as a sinister network closes in and he learns some people are ready to kill for the ultimate director's cut.
'There are two major stars in this book, the laconic private eye Daniel Leicester and the city of Bologna itself. Tom Benjamin mixes these ingredients perfectly making Italian Rules a really great read.'
Ian Moore, author of DEATH AND CROISSANTS
REQUIEM IN LA ROSSA
May, 2022
In the sweltering heat of a Bologna summer, a murderer plans their pièce de résistance...
Only in Bologna reads the headline in the Carlino after a professor of music is apparently murdered leaving the opera. But what looks like an open-and-shut case begins to fall apart when English detective Daniel Leicester is tasked with getting the accused man off, and a trail that begins among Bologna's close-knit classical music community leads him to suspect there may be a serial killer at large in the oldest university in the world. And as Bologna trembles with aftershocks following a recent earthquake, the city begins to give up her secrets.
'Devoured it. Great characters and brilliant use of the history and architecture of Bologna. His best yet.'
Trevor Wood.
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THE HUNTING SEASON
May, 2021
Death stalks the Italian wilderness
It's truffle season and in the hills around Bologna the hunt is on for the legendary Boscuri White, the golden nugget of Italian gastronomy. But when an American truffle 'supertaster' goes missing, English detective Daniel Leicester discovers not all truffles are created equal. Did the missing supertaster bite off more than he could chew?
As he goes on the hunt for Ryan Lee, Daniel discovers the secrets behind 'Food City', from the immigrant kitchen staff to the full scale of a multi-million Euro business. After a key witness is found dead at the foot of one of Bologna's famous towers, the stakes could not be higher. Daniel teams up with a glamorous TV reporter, but the deeper he goes into the disappearance of the supertaster the darker things become. Murder is once again on the menu, but this time Daniel himself stands accused. And the only way he can clear his name is by finding Ryan Lee...
'A cleverly constructed plot, at once romantic and threatening, promotes Tom Benjamin to the first division of crime writers'
Daily Mail
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A QUIET DEATH
IN ITALY
May, 2020
Bologna: city of secrets, suspicion . . . and murder
When the body of a radical protestor is found floating in one of Bologna's underground canals, private investigator Daniel Leicester receives a call from the dead man's lover and follows a trail that begins in the 1970s and leads all the way to the rotten heart of the present-day political establishment.
Beneath the beauty of the city, Bologna has a dark underside, and English detective Daniel must unravel a web of secrets, deceit and corruption - before he is caught in it himself.
The locale is brought to life, the characters come formed by their environment and history, and the plot keeps you guessing - even when you think you know what's coming. The Times
Benjamin gloriously evokes the porticoes and palazzos of the medieval city, along with its radical tradition and the corruption in the police, in a slow-burning, tense and brooding thriller which boasts the atmosphere and attention to detail that could only spring from a genuine love of the location. The Herald Scotland
