Set in Italy during the 1930s, Appointment with Il Duce follows the life of Beppe Arpino as he makes the journey from cello-playing youth to would-be assassin. It’s a quirky book, inevitably so, but it eventually found a publisher and was reviewed favorably in places like the New York Times, the Village Voice, and Kirkus Reviews. Barnes & Noble included the book in its Discover Great New Writers series, and the Baltimore Sun named it one of the ten best books of the year.