The Scandal of the Century

Gabriel Garcia Marquez – the greatest writer of the 20th century, Nobel Prize laureate, author of world-famous novels One Hundred Years of Solitude, Love in the Time of Cholera, and Autumn of the Patriarch. Throughout his life, Marquez repeatedly emphasized that he primarily considers himself a journalist and dedicated a significant part of his time to reporting activities. Moreover – he asserted that he even structured his fictional texts according to the principles of a newspaper article. However, those who read his journalism can confidently say that it was precisely the opposite: Marquez wrote his newspaper and magazine articles not as dry reports, but as true works of art. This is fully applicable to the central piece of the collection – The Scandal of the Century, written in the genre of documentary detective fiction. The author masterfully captures the reader's attention from the very first words and does not let go until the very last page. * * * On April 9, 1953, the young Roman beauty Vilma Montesi left home and never returned. A day later, her body – partially undressed but without signs of sexual violence – was washed ashore by the sea waves. The police suspect an accident. Indeed, who could have harmed the daughter of a respectable carpenter and the happy fiancée of a young policeman? Thus begins the dizzying criminal story that stunned all of Italy, involving gangsters and pop stars, golden youth and prominent politicians, actresses, adventurers, and elite night butterflies.