Rigosi, Giampiero 1962-

PERSONAL:

Born 1962.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Bologna, Italy. Fax: 44 20 7460 2164.

CAREER:

Writer, novelist, critic, songwriter, radio producer, and TV screenwriter.

WRITINGS:

(With Eraldo Baldini and Carlo Lucarelli) Medical Thriller, Einaudi (Turin, Italy), 2002.

Night Bus, translated by Ann Goldstein, Bitter Lemon Press (London, England), 2006.

SCREENPLAYS

Distretto di polizia (TV series), Taodue Film, 2000.

Prendimi l'anima (film screenplay), Jean Vigo Italia, 2002.

L'ispettore Coliandro: Magia nera, (TV screenplay), Nauta Film, 2006.

L'ispettore Coliandro: In trappola, (TV screenplay), Nauta Film, 2006.

L'ispettore Coliandro: Il giorno del lupo, (TV screenplay), Nauta Film, 2006.

Notturno Bus (title means "Night Bus"), Eme, 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Giampiero Rigosi is an Italian novelist and screenwriter for both film and television. Also known as a songwriter, literary critic, and short-story writer, Rigosi regularly produces radio programs on crime literature and cinema noir. Rigosi's debut crime fiction novel, Night Bus, is a "spot-on caper tale" set in Bologna, Italy, remarked Booklist reviewer Bill Ott. Leila is a gorgeous hustler who searches the bars every night for a man to take to bed and later rob. Francesco is a bus driver addicted to gambling, deep in debt, and deeper in trouble with some shady characters who want to collect what he owes. When Leila meets playboy Andrea Fabbri and liberates his wallet, she ends up with a document that Fabbri wants back very badly. Soon, both Leila and Francesco are being pursued by calculating, violent assailants, including a particularly fearsome specimen nicknamed The Bear. Hustler and gambler team up to try to outwit and outrace their opponents, with Francesco's intimate knowledge of Bologna's backstreets serving them well. Little seems able to put off their pursuers, however, even as the gap between hunter and hunted closes quickly, at the expense of several dead bodies and mounting danger.

A New Yorker reviewer noted that "an ever-expanding cast of creeps and criminals keeps the plot accelerating," while Ott observed that "superb snippets" of character development "combine with a breakneck pace and a palpable noir sensibility" to create the core atmosphere of the book. A Publishers Weekly contributor called the novel "a fast-moving thriller that compares favorably with the work of Elmore Leonard and Donald E. Westlake."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, May 1, 2006, Bill Ott, review of Night Bus, p. 39.

New Yorker, July 31, 2006, "Briefly Noted," review of Night Bus, p. 79.

Publishers Weekly, March 6, 2006, review of Night Bus, p. 49.

ONLINE

Internet Movie Database,http://www.imdb.com/ (December 10, 2006), filmography of Giampiero Rigosi.

Words without Borders,http://www.wordswithoutborders.org/ (December 10, 2006), biography of Giampiero Rigosi.