The “game theory” in the mind of the killer: the debut mystery by Elena D’Agostino from Messina

She is a passionate reader of thrillers and is an economist and professor of Financial Science at the University of Messina, with a degree in Law, Elena D’Agostino, debut author of «The seventh face of the dice» (Mondadori), a thriller with a fast-paced plot set in the academic rooms of the Peloritano university. Against the backdrop of a Messina much loved by D’Agostino, a territory that is also a character (“my city is a paradise – she says -, despite the limitations we know, with its Strait that moves me and which only lacks the sunset”), after the disappearance of Lucia Correnti, esteemed and charismatic professor of Political Economy and candidate for the rectorate, a series of gruesome crimes takes place, starting with that of Laura Gravina, a law graduate and daughter of a well-known university professor. The deputy commissioner Giorgio Guerrera and the prosecutor Paolo Semeraro investigate, with the help of Rosa Angeli, a young teacher expert in game theory who arrived from London on Correnti’s proposal. She was the first to find a dice next to the victim’s body and to understand the relationship with game theory, on which Correnti wrote a manual. But is Lucia dead? Is it part of the game? Is he an accomplice? We don’t know well. And can the frictions, exchanges of favors and power games of academic dynamics “explain” the atrocious crimes with which those who kill seem to want to “play”? The book will be presented in the Great Hall of the Rectorate of the University of Messina on Tuesday at 6pm, with the author present who, after institutional greetings from the rector Giovanna Spatari, will converse with Stefano Ruggeri, professor of Criminal Procedural Law.
A teacher of Finance Sciences who competes with a thriller.
«During my doctorate in England I experimented every day with “game theory” which was a tool for my thesis and my work, and at the same time I was accompanied on my travels by reading thrillers (Larsson, Carrisi, Faletti that I love, among others). I have always thought that game theory with the stories it presents is already a novel in itself and it would have been nice to explain it in ways that were not just academic ones. It could become the leitmotif of a thriller and the tool of a criminal mind, so I started writing 10 years ago.”

Game theory concerns logical-mathematical procedures in economic and strategic theories. But how is it “used” in the novel?
«Game theory is a very useful mathematical discipline for us economists. I use it because I deal with the economic analysis of law, that is, the economic effects of legal rules. In the novel he creates a short circuit with the person who kills, who is in the grip of his own delirium, even of omnipotence, and by distorting it with his homicidal impetus he uses an instrument that instead makes rationality its nature. I liked the rational/irrational conflict, telling how something perfectly rational becomes monstrous in the wrong hands.”

The irrational goes hand in hand with chance and probability. But those who kill leave nothing to chance. Is the metaphor for all this the dice?
«The dice is a perfect metaphor for game theory. The dice, which follows a ritual present with other objects in many thrillers, is in itself a symbol of the game and certainly also of the chance that exists in our lives, but at the same time it indicates that we must throw and pick up this dice, with our tenacity, our commitment. This is precisely the seventh side of the dice, and this novel that I believed in from the beginning proves it. Unfortunately in history even those who kill leave nothing to chance, they want to be rational in their own way like a player.”

In the thriller we observe the impotence of traditional investigations in favor of the analysis of an economist teacher like Rosa Angeli.
«It was indispensable for the narrative, because Rosa, as an expert in game theory, is necessary for the investigations. However, apart from what was needed in narrative fiction, I think it is good that professionals, magistrates, judicial police, investigators, who play a very precious role and I hope will never truly need game theory, open themselves up to the outside world, because the truth unfortunately does not lie only in codes and laws. In the novel, the deputy commissioner and above all the prosecutor overcome their narrow-mindedness and realize that they must go outside their office, while respecting the secrets of the investigations, also relying on people who are not involved in the work”.

In the novel we start with Lucia’s disappearance, followed by various feminicides. But were so many deaths of more or less young women really necessary, narratively speaking?
«Lucia has been missing for three months, then the murders follow. And when Rosa comes into play we understand that following the game theory path of Lucia’s manual it becomes indisputable to link the criminal facts to Lucia. I know it might seem like a messy femicide and be “strong” for the reader, but those crimes were “necessary”, narratively: whoever this person is, it’s as if they killed Lucia by striking an aspect of another person that reminds her of Lucia. Then, of course, there is also the fact that unfortunately we too often experience femicide.”

The academic entanglements form the backdrop to the chain of criminal events. What is it useful for in the narrative?
«I chose the context of the rector’s elections, because they are a moment of academic fervor, of alignments and “factions”. And therefore it was useful, narratively, to create further tension around the murders and to create connections between the characters. Then it’s not clear whether the elections should take place or not and there is a whole series of complications that I needed to outline the story.”