Italy, the fatal gift

"William Murray (April 8, 1926, New York City ? March 9, 2005, NYC) was an American fiction editor and staff writer at The New Yorker for more than thirty years. He wrote a series of mystery novels set in the world of horse racing, many featuring Shifty Lou Anderson, a professional magician and horseplayer. Among his many contributions to The New Yorker was the magazine's "Letters from Italy" of which he was the sole author."--Wikipedia.