Death of a Chess Player

Central Italy, 1944

Bruno, a young German soldier of mixed Jewish heritage stationed at Avezzano, Central Italy, is befriended by a local family. He and the seventeen-year-old Stefano become friends as they repair the family’s long-disused Fiat. After learning of the Ardeatine massacre, Bruno agonises about being part of the Nazi war regime. As a motorcycle outrider, escorting VIP Nazis to Rome, he rides into a partisan ambush. In a pivotal moment, Bruno must choose between shooting his friend Stefano or his fellow Nazi soldiers.

England, 2023

Guy Grant is approached by ‘Bodger Bill’ Beauchamp, his school housemaster from over forty years ago. On visiting the Naples War Cemetery, Bodger discovered a discrepancy in the death date of Leo, his elder brother, in war-torn Italy in 1944. Bodger had remembered meeting Guy’s uncle, years previously, who told him that he had played chess with Leo at Easter in 1944.

Starting with his uncle’s wartime diaries, Guy learns about World War Two in Italy, and his investigation uncovers stories of tragedy, heroism, love, betrayal, and ultimately murder that would impact the next generation.