A Time to Kill (Flaiano novel)

A Time to Kill
AuthorEnnio Flaiano
Original titleTempo di uccidere
LanguageItalian
PublisherLonganesi
Publication date
1947
Publication placeItaly
Published in English
1950
Pages385

A Time to Kill (Italian: Tempo di uccidere), published in the United States as The Short Cut, is a 1947 novel by the Italian writer Ennio Flaiano. It is about an Italian lieutenant during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War who tells how he accidentally killed an Ethiopian girl while on leave and struggles with guilt.

The book received the Strega Prize. It was adapted into the 1989 film Time to Kill directed by Giuliano Montaldo.