Il Commissario De Luca

1938. Based on Carlo Lucarelli's novel Indagine non Autorizzata which was not about Commissario De Luca, but adapted to the character for the TV series. The novel is not available in English translation. Below is the book description in Google Translation.

Riccione, during the hot summer of 1936, the height of tourist season. On the beach, just steps from the seaside residence of Benito Mussolini, is accidentally discovered the corpse of a murdered prostitute. The murder, which threatens to disturb the quiet holiday founder of the empire, throws in a panic the police station in Rimini, responsible for the area: the police, strongly "encouraged" by the upper echelons of power in Rome, to undertake in agony ' in rapid investigation and within hours arrested the alleged offender, a victim of the delinquent half notch, old friend of the investigators. The case seems closed, but something just does not fit the inspector De Luca.

April 1945, Italy. Commissario De Luca is heading up a dangerous investigation into the private lives of the rich and powerful during the frantic final days of the facist regime. The hierarchy has guaranteed De Luca their full cooperation, just so long as he arrests the "right" suspect. The house of cards built by Mussolini in the last months of WWII is collapsing and De Luca faces a world mired in sadistic sex, dirty money, drugs and murder.
(© Europa Editions)

It is 1946. De Luca suffers from insomnia and has lost his appetite. He’s got problems with women and a case that he can’t crack. In this second installment of the heralded De Luca Trilogy, the Commissario is posing as a certain Gianni Morandi to avoid reprisals for the role he played during the fascist dictatorship. Exposed by a member of the partisan police, De Luca is forced to investigate a series of brutal murders, becoming a reluctant player in Italy’s post-war power struggle.
(© Europa Editions)

There has been a murder on Via delle Oche, the Bologna street at the center the city's notorious red light district. As always, De Luca is unwilling to look the other way when the evidence points to certain local politicians and members of the upper echelons of the Bologna police. A nation's fate is soon to be decided in bitterly contested elections; once again, the brutal worlds of crime and politics collude and collide, creating an atmosphere that becomes more volatile with each passing day.
(© Europa Editions)