Count Calabresi

By Peter Foreman

A literary novel with elements of crime, mystery and romance, it's a story of the relationship between the narrator, Gina Seymour, a biographer, and an Italian count, Mario Calabresi. Their discovery of two ancient Greek bronze statues in the Ionian sea leads to a glimpse of a goodness and beauty Mario has looked for to counteract the corruption in modern life.
Kidnapped by the 'Ndrangheta, he manages to escape by killing one kidnapper, but is caught by the second man, and subjected to a terrifying ordeal. Later, when free, he has violent urges and dreams of killing people. He no longer has faith in the glimpse into goodness the bronzes gave him.
Mario's cousin Valerio, an amateur historian, connects the bronzes to a prophecy by the 5th century philosopher Proclus that whoever reveals their "unmentionable" secret would perish in the sea. Now things take a dark turn when Valerio is drowned in a sailing accident. When later one of the Carabinieri frogmen who raised the bronzes also dies by drowning, Gina begins to think the prophecy is true. But when Mario's sister Apollonia sleepwalks into a lake and drowns, Gina begins to suspect him of murder. She hesitates over his marriage proposal after learning about Renzo Calabresi, Mario's brigand ancestor. Yet, despite her increasing doubts, eventually she accepts.
Her fears of the Proclus warning and uncertainty about Mario continue to haunt her until Mario decides to settle matters once and for all. Hiring a motor boat in Sicily, he takes her to the strait entrance, the mythical home of the sea monsters Scylla and Charybdis, where tidal currents are dangerous and whirlpools occur. If the Proclus prophecy is correct he and Gina should perish in the sea. His lunatic reasoning panics Gina, who causes him to fall overboard where he is sucked under by the spinning water. Gina is saved by some swordfish fishermen.
Fast-forwarding to the future finds her with no belief in the warning: Mario's drowning was brought about by herself.
But one day she reads a newspaper report about the sudden death of a second frogman who had helped to salvage the statues. He drowned when his helicopter crashed into the sea in the Messina Strait ...
Could Gina be next?

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0GND6WDC2
• ISBN13: 9798244596618
• Release Date: February 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 156 Pages
• Weight: 0.41 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.5" x 8.5"