Germany and France may be the leading providers of European adventure games these days, but Italy is beginning to establish itself as an up-and-coming genre contributor. Hot on the heels of the recent news of Rinascimento - Florence 1529 comes word from independent developer Mad Orange that production has begun on Face Noir: The Cat with the Jade Eyes.

Face Noir is set in 1930s New York, a city gripped in the throes of the Great Depression. Jack Del Nero, and ex-cop turned private eye, contemplates life from the bottom of a bottle until a fateful phone call sets the wheels of a new case in motion that soon spin out of control. The pursuit of a small statuette draws Jack deep into a mystery that spans three different cities and includes over thirty different characters while "the murder of his ex-colleague, Little Emily, and the great eclipse are just a few elements of the tortuous path he has to run through in his hunt for the cat with the jade eyes."

As its title suggests, the storyline will be heavily steeped in classic noir and supported by a jazz soundtrack that befits its setting. The game is presented in 2.5D using a third-person perspective and point-and-click interface, but Mad Orange claims that Face Noir will include some as-yet-undisclosed features that help distinguish it from traditional adventures.

With a projected completion date of the end of 2009, there's still some time before the release of Face Noir: The Cat with the Jade Eyes. In the meantime, however, be sure to check out the game's official website for more information.