The Franco Fasiolo Novels

Franco Fasiolo lives in a relict and repurposed hothouse in the Italian Alps. As a plant expert he gets pulled into many situations across the Alpine Arc, and sometimes throughout the world, and thus has become a reluctant cosmopolitan. Some of his character traits fuel this reluctance while others push him past it. Reclusive and introverted by nature, almost to the point of misanthropy, he prefers to remain secluded in his greenhouse with his botanical companions.

His devotion to plants, as well as his love for different languages and cultures, however, spur a gregariousness and curiosity that finds fulfillment in his travels across geographical and social borders. In each story, he is called in to solve a problem that involves a plant. He is a botanical forensic scientist, but a somewhat unwilling one.

While he solves plant-involved mysteries in places ranging across the Alps, including Spain, France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Slovenia and Croatia, as well as throughout the world, he must also tend to unruliness that arises at home while he is away among his many plant companions. Here is where he engages his fascination with plant social dynamics, with plant ecologies, which he views in terms usually associated with human collectives.

So while the first plot line is his plant detective work abroad, the second is his plant ecology work at home. The third plotline involves his relationships with human beings at home, as few and distant as they are.

The first in the series is coming soon!