The seal in the step

Turin, November 2024. A body in the lift.

Michele Riva is a dealer in antiques and second-hand goods who knows the value of things. When his meeting with a client is interrupted by the discovery of the body of Paolo Piano, a bookseller with more than his fair share of secrets, Michele finds himself drawn into an investigation that no one seems genuinely interested in solving.

Commissioner Biundo has questions Michele cannot answer. Cristina, Paolo's ex-wife and former business partner, has eyes that deceive even when she is telling the truth. And Sofia, the woman now living in the dead man's flat, harbours a sorrow that feels far more like vengeance than grief.

The lift stopped on the third floor. But the real vertigo lies elsewhere: in a painting of incalculable value, in a heritage protection order that makes its sale impossible, and in a woman who has killed before-and will not hesitate to kill again.

Michele soon discovers that the killer is not always the person who wields the knife or tightens the noose. The true killer is the one who decided, long ago, that the truth must never come to light-even if it meant destroying the people they loved.

The Seal in the Step is a Turin noir steeped in the scent of gunpowder and sealing wax. It is a descent into the labyrinth of an ancient building, where every staircase conceals a secret, every step could be the last, and the person you love may be the most dangerous of all.