Ex
NYPD cop Nico Doyle leaves the US for his late wife’s
home town of Gravigna in Italy’s Chianti region. One
morning he hears a gunshot and imagines hunters, but instead
he discovers a dead man with his face blown away. He is soon
helping the local Carabinieri inspector, Salvatore Perillo,
and discovering that a lot of local people knew the victim.
Some of them are his wife’s relations…
The
folk of Gravigna certainly know how to live La Dolce Vita.
Meals and various beverages are consumed on every page, as
all the characters appear to spend most of their time eating.
I haven’t visited Italy so cannot comment on the veracity
of this, but fortunately there is also plenty of detecting.
The pool of suspects widens and it appears that everybody
has a reason to dislike the victim, but who truly hated him?
Nico learns that despite the loss of his former job and the
untimely death of his wife, life still holds many things worth
living for. He adopts a stray dog, works part time in a local
restaurant and of course enjoys detecting…and consuming
awesome quantities of food and drink. Perhaps the star of
the story is the vividly realised setting, which comes to
vibrant life as the Italy of our dreams filled with lively
characters, beautiful scenery and all the good things of the
table. This has the feeling of being the first in a new series,
and I would certainly read another. Worth a look.
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