#17: The Bishop's Bedroom by Piero Chiara

In the earliest days of a post-war Italy, a man takes to his boat on Lake Maggiore looking for female companionship and mild adventure; but when he meets a mysterious man, his skittish wife, and their supposedly widowed sister-in-law, he gets more than he bargained for in Piero Chiara's The Bishop's Bedroom.

The two men settle into an uneasy friendship that unfortunately, and ultimately violently, devolves into rivalries for the same women they meet around the lake.  

The Bishop's Bedroom has a splash of psychological suspense and an undertone of noir, as well as a vivid description of life in Italy in the mid 40s.  Rewarding overall.  

Chiara first published this novel in the 70s in Italian; I believe this edition is a newer translation by New Vessel Press.  

I checked it out from the Morrisson-Reeves Public Library in Richmond, Indiana and read it quickly.