A Nice Steady Job — Gregory Dowling

When Sir Alfred Aimslet hires January Esposito to investigate the disappearance of his son, Piers, Jan's peaceful days of teaching English in Verona come to an abrupt end. Jan learns that Piers has lately been running with a crowd suspected of being involved in a recent killing in the Italian countryside, but he can't tell whether Piers took part in this crime.
Jan's search for Piers leads him to San Giorgio Veronese, a quaint village in the Veneto that has recently been troubled by racism, gas bomb explosions, and murder. In the center of this village stands a magnificent statue of St. George, and with the help of Linda Housman, a young art history student studying in the village, Jan quickly learns the legend behind it as well as the international turmoil it has created for the village's residents.
Despite Jan's ingenious improvisation and his efforts at a simple, discreet investigation, he finds himself more and more tangled in a web of political ideology and drug dealing that takes the mystery fifty years into the village's past and its bitter memories of World War II.