Meeting with Marco Steiner, for book signings: Un riflesso al buio (A Reflection in the Dark). A noir novel set in Venice, in an exclusive edition, published in recent days for the Festival del Noir in a limited number of copies! (Cong Edizioni)

A drawing teacher dies in Venice. It appears to be a natural death. But nothing is as it seems: the clues lead to hidden symbols, double identities and reflections that no longer match those who project them. Leading the investigation is not only Matteo Truant, an introverted and ironic police commissioner from Friuli, but also Marina Moretti, his Venetian colleague and counterpoint. Amidst dark alleys, shadowy archives and sudden apparitions, another city emerges: the Venice of Baron Corvo, of alchemy, of signs and drawings left as enigmas. And at times, in the background, the unmistakable silhouette of Corto Maltese seems to walk alongside the protagonists, while a red cat watches them from a bridge, indifferent and complicit at the same time. But this is not just an investigation. It is a descent into the double depths of identity. In Venice, what disappears continues to watch you from the shadows.

MARCO STEINER

The pseudonym Mitteleuropeo was suggested to him by Hugo Pratt, with whom he collaborated from 1989 to 1995, completing the novel Corte Sconta detta Arcana, published by Einaudi, after his death. He is the author of numerous novels: Il Corvo di Pietra (Sellerio, 2014), Oltremare (Sellerio 2015, Emilio Salgari Adventure Literature Prize), Il gioco delle Perle di Venezia (Rizzoli-Lizard, 2016), Miraggi di Memoria (Nuages, 2018), Passi Silenziosi nel Bosco (Nuages, 2020), Nella Musica del Vento (Salani, 2021), Isole di ordinaria Follia (Marcianum Press, 2019) and La nave dei Folli (Marcianum Press, 2022), Ulisse (Cong Edizioni, 2023), Nella musica del vento and Spartaco (Cong Edizioni, 2025).