The Monster of Florence: A True Story

Preston, an author of fiction and non-fiction books, moved to Florence with his family and became interested in the Monster of Florence case because the murders had taken place in the surrounding countryside. Mario Spezi, co-author of the book, is a journalist who specialized in the Monster of Florence case for many years. Preston and Spezi became friends and then collaborated on articles and books about the case. Both became figures in the case when the Italian prosecutors came to suspect them and accuse them of crimes including obstruction of justice and potentially being accomplices to murder. Preston published an article about the case in American magazine The Atlantic in 2006.[2]

It recounts the authors' personal experiences while investigating the case and their problems of being accused by the Italian criminal justice system. Preston and Spezi are outspoken critics of the tactics and theories pursued by the Italian police and prosecutors in the Monster of Florence case.

The book is stated as being an english translation of Spezi and Preston's Italian language book, [Dolci Colline di Sangue] (Sweet hills of blood) published two years earlier by Preston's Italian publisher, Sonzogno[3] in 2006. Spezi wrote the majority of the Italian manuscript[4] published in 2006 (Dolci colline di sangue) and Preston wrote the english 'translation' while back in the US. There are however, notable differences between the two editions: Chapter 28 in the Italian language Dolci colline di sangue where Spezi is invited to dinner at the house of a foreign crime writer who has many close contacts with the Carabinere and has a portrait of Georges Simenon on her desk. The writer is given the pseudonym 'Ethel' and nationality 'Belgian' is widely accepted to be the late British author, Magdalen Nabb who conducted extensive research and investigation into the case and published a novel, [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/227489/the-monster-of-florence-by-magdalen-nabb/ The Monster of Florence] in 1996 (Harper Collins). In this chapter she has invited Spezi to dinner along with a high ranking Carabinere Officer, his wife and Nabb's Japanese friend. After dinner when they are alone, Nabb explains to Spezi her investigation and shows him documentary evidence that lead to identifying the killer. In Dolce Colline di Sangue, Preston and Spezi then discuss 'Ethel'/Magdalen Nabb not giving Spezi the documentary evidence. In a 2004 interview Nabb discusses how a journalist, unnamed, that she had passed information to had gone around trying to sell her researches as his own to publications such as the New Yorker. In her 1996 novel, Nabb had already included the secret FBI report.

In the 2008 english language edition, The Monster of Florence: A True Story, which was published a year after Magdalen Nabb had died suddenly in August 2007, the role of 'Ethel'/Magdalen is removed and the scene is re-written with Spezi assuming the role of having the hypothesis and theory and instructing Preston.

In late 2008, film studio United Artists announced its purchase of the film rights to The Monster of Florence: a True Story.[5] In 2010 the project was acquired by Fox 2000 and is in development, with George Clooney attached as producer as well as to play the role of Preston.[6]

• Censorship in Italy
• Monster of Florence
• Magdalen Nabb
• Zodiac killer

• Official Site
• The Monster of Florence - Douglas Preston article in The Atlantic, July/August 2006
• The Journalist and the Murderer - Interview with Douglas Preston in The Atlantic, July/August 2006
• The Boston Globe: "Trapped in His Own Thriller"