Timothy Williams (born 1946) is a bilingual British author who has written six novels in English featuring Commissario Piero Trotti, a character critics have referred to as a personification of modern Italy. Williams' books include ''Black August'', which won a

Crime Writers' Association The Crime Writers' Association (CWA) is a specialist authors' organisation in the United Kingdom, most notable for its "Dagger" awards for the best crime writing of the year, and the Diamond Dagger awarded to an author for lifetime achievement. ...

award. His novels have been translated into French, Italian, Danish, Russian, Bulgarian, Polish, and Japanese. Williams' first French novel, ''Un autre soleil'', set in the Caribbean island of

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre Island, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galant ...

, was published in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

by Rivages in March 2011 and was published in English in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in April 2013 as ''Another Sun''. Williams was born in Walthamstow (Essex, now London) and attended Woodford Green Preparatory School, Chigwell School and St Andrews University. He has previously lived in France, Italy, and in Romania, where he worked for the British Council. Williams is also the author of a series of crime novels set in

in the French West Indies featuring Anne Marie Laveaud, a juge d'instruction. Williams, who holds dual British/French citizenship, currently lives on the island of

and teaches in the main lycée of Pointe à Pitre. For the Observer Timothy Williams is one of the ten best European crime novelists. "The five books in Williams’s Commissario Trotti series, written from 1982–96, are hard to find, but if you liked Zen (Dibdin’s books or the TV series) you’ll enjoy Trotti just as much. A delight."

The Italian Novels

The first five Trotti novels were originally published by Gollancz in London. They are now available in paperback edition from Soho Publishing. The sixth novel, The Second Day of the Renaissance, was published by Soho Publishing in May 2017.

Cultural milieu

Commissario Trotti investigates crime in a small, unnamed city on the river Po in the north of Italy (sometimes erroneously identified as

Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...

, but more close to

Pavia Pavia ( , ; ; ; ; ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, in Northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino (river), Ticino near its confluence with the Po (river), Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was a major polit ...

, at least for "Converging Parallels"). Trotti's career spans much of the First Republic, from the period known as the ''Italian Miracle'' through the Anni di Piombo. This milieu keeps the

Polizia di Stato The (State Police or P.S.) is one of the national Law enforcement in Italy, police forces of Italy. Alongside the Carabinieri, it is the main police force for providing police duties, primarily to cities and large towns, and with its child agen ...

busy and in his enquiries Trotti frequently confronts problems facing Italian society: terrorism, political instability, corruption, socialism under Craxi, Operation Clean Hands ('' mani pulite''), and above all, the decline of civilised intercourse. Writing in a minimalist style, in which he relies largely on dialogue to advance the plot, Williams has at times been considered a demanding author. One critic complained that the books read like translations from Italian. Some readers find that pace and tension are sacrificed for sociology and politics and that the moody, brooding Trotti, addicted to rhubarb sweets, is too slow and too wordy for their taste.

The Guadeloupe Novels

There are two novels with protagonist Anne-Marie Laveaud, an investigative magistrate based in Pointe-à-Pitre in the French island of Guadeloupe. In 2012 Rivages Noir published ''Un autre soleil'', a crime novel set in the island ''département'' of

, in the French Caribbean. In 2013, the book was published by Soho Crime. In 1980, the ex-convict, Hegesippe Bray, returning home after forty years spent in the penal colony of Cayenne, has been charged with the murder of a white landowner who was running him off his property. Nine months before the French presidential elections of 1981, for political reasons, the authorities wish to view the murder as an open-and-shut case of revenge killing. Anne Marie Laveaud, the ''juge d'instruction'' (investigative magistrate) in charge of the case, does not agree. To learn the truth, she will put herself, her career and her family in jeopardy.

Novels

The Inspector Trotti Novels #''Converging Parallels'' (London: Gollancz, 1982; )(New York: Soho Press, 2014; ) #''The Puppeteer'' (London: Gollancz, 1985; ) #''Persona Non Grata'' (London: Gollancz, 1987; ) #''Black August'' (London: Orion, 1992; ) #''Big Italy'' (London: Orion, 1996; ) #''The Second Day of the Renaissance'' (New York: Soho, 2017; ) The Anne Marie Laveaud Novels #''Another Sun'' (New York: Soho, 2013; ) #''The Honest Folk of Guadeloupe'' (New York: Soho, 2014; )

in French

* ''Un autre soleil'' (

br>Rivages
2011; )

References

External links

Timothy Williams
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Timothy English crime fiction writers Organized crime novelists Alumni of the University of St Andrews 1946 births Living people