Children of the Savage City: A Novel
Feb 2026 · Penguin
Ebook
416
Pages
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Eligible
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infoThis book will become available on February 17, 2026. You will not be charged until it is released.
About this ebook
Criminal networks rule Naples, but detective Nikki Serafino is doing everything she can to set things right. But can her work ever extinguish the long shadow of her family’s past?
A peaceful evening mass at the historic Chiesa del Gesù Nuovo is shattered when a young au pair is killed in one of the cathedral’s quiet chapels. The witnesses, two American girls with political connections, are willing to speak to only one person: Nikki Serafino.
Investigator Nikki Serafino leads a disciplined life. When she’s not at work as a liaison between Italian police and the U.S. military, she cares for her aging family and teaches a women’s self-defense clinic. The moments Nikki has allowed her life to deviate from structure—usually for love—have always led to chaos. But her hard-won distance and professional control slip as she’s pulled into the web of lies, buried loyalties, and old wounds that encircle the young woman’s murder, and stir up her family’s ties to organized crime in Naples. Along with her partner Valerio, Nikki sets out to solve the case. But can she and Valerio—who has hidden debts to pay—stay clean when Naples seems to always leave soot on your hands?
As Nikki and Valerio navigate a landscape where justice is negotiable and alibi is currency, they come to understand: there’s no safety in neutrality, especially when they uncover signs of deeper, systemic duplicity. When grace and corruption share the same narrow streets, even the most principled must confront the cost of survival—and the blurred line between truth and self-preservation. In Naples, it seems even innocence comes at a price.
A peaceful evening mass at the historic Chiesa del Gesù Nuovo is shattered when a young au pair is killed in one of the cathedral’s quiet chapels. The witnesses, two American girls with political connections, are willing to speak to only one person: Nikki Serafino.
Investigator Nikki Serafino leads a disciplined life. When she’s not at work as a liaison between Italian police and the U.S. military, she cares for her aging family and teaches a women’s self-defense clinic. The moments Nikki has allowed her life to deviate from structure—usually for love—have always led to chaos. But her hard-won distance and professional control slip as she’s pulled into the web of lies, buried loyalties, and old wounds that encircle the young woman’s murder, and stir up her family’s ties to organized crime in Naples. Along with her partner Valerio, Nikki sets out to solve the case. But can she and Valerio—who has hidden debts to pay—stay clean when Naples seems to always leave soot on your hands?
As Nikki and Valerio navigate a landscape where justice is negotiable and alibi is currency, they come to understand: there’s no safety in neutrality, especially when they uncover signs of deeper, systemic duplicity. When grace and corruption share the same narrow streets, even the most principled must confront the cost of survival—and the blurred line between truth and self-preservation. In Naples, it seems even innocence comes at a price.
About the author
Elizabeth Heider is the author of May the Wolf Die, named a New York Times Best Crime Novel, a Washington Post Best Mystery, and one of Publishers Weekly’s best books of the year. Her short fiction has been recognized by the Santa Fe Writers Project and New Century Writer Awards.
She holds a PhD in physics and most recently worked as a program manager for Microsoft’s AI4Science and as a scientist in the European Space Agency’s human spaceflight program. She's authored original scientific research, a patent, analytical reports for the US government and military, and coauthored a journal article with astronaut Thomas Pesquet. She lived and worked in Naples, Italy, as a civilian analyst embedded with the US Navy’s mission in Africa, where she deployed aboard US and European naval ships. Originally from Utah, she now lives in The Hague, where she's working on the next Nikki Serafino novel.
She holds a PhD in physics and most recently worked as a program manager for Microsoft’s AI4Science and as a scientist in the European Space Agency’s human spaceflight program. She's authored original scientific research, a patent, analytical reports for the US government and military, and coauthored a journal article with astronaut Thomas Pesquet. She lived and worked in Naples, Italy, as a civilian analyst embedded with the US Navy’s mission in Africa, where she deployed aboard US and European naval ships. Originally from Utah, she now lives in The Hague, where she's working on the next Nikki Serafino novel.
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