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A Murder In Tuscany (2011)

by Christobel Kent(Favorite Author)

3.48 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

1429970804 (ISBN13: 9781429970808)

languge

English

genre

Horror

publisher

Minotaur Books

series

Sandro Cellini

review 1: I wanted to love "A Murder in Tuscany". It has all the elements I enjoy in a good mystery--the Tuscany setting for starters, plus a solid and likable PI, interesting support characters, and a dreary castle full of weirdos. Christobel Kent's ability to define a novel by its sense of place is one of her writing's best features. Her skills are particularly fine at the end of this novel. However, some of the technical things she did this time around drove me to distraction. Totally my problem. I own it. Paragraph after paragraph, page after page of "he had told her" and "she had done" and "they had wandered" put me off track in following the forward movement of the story. No,no, and NO!!! Already.The pace was off as well. Sandro didn't even get to the castle until midway throu... moregh the book. The reader is expected to wade through too much stuff before finally being rewarded with some real story development.As a fan of series, I embrace ongoing character development. Sandro is a man of low self-esteem and limited intuition. In this novel, he stews and whines to himself because Luisa, his wife of 30-plus years, has somehow changed. While she excitedly plans a trip from their home in Florence to New York City as part of her work, Sandro becomes jealous and small. He thinks she is having an affair with her boss, and as a result turns (temporarily) into the sort of husband a woman who has recently gone through a nasty bout of breast cancer doesn't need. Whereas the trip to New York seems to me like a great idea. Despite my criticisms, I enjoyed the book. It's better than three stars, but not as good as four. The problems I talk about could have been fixed with some basic good editing. When Kent's writing shines, it really shines. Overall, it didn't in this novel. I will give her, Sandro, and Luisa another try and hope for better because I am cheering for all of them.
review 2: Quick summary from Amazon: "Loni Meadows is the beautiful, unstable director of an arts foundation headquartered in a crumbling castle outside Florence. When Meadows dies under peculiar circumstances, it becomes clear that almost everyone at Castello Orfeo would have been pleased to see her dead. Years ago, as a low-level member of the Florence police force, Sandro Cellini, now working sporadically as a private eye, ran a routine background check on Meadows, and he hopes that the tidbits he learned back then can help him determine who helped her to her death." What I thought? Loved it, loved it, loved it and am furious that Ron Hanks who loaned it to me did not have the Cellini #1 book to loan me, too. (Oh, ungrateful friends who borrow your books and complain = serpent's tooth, I know!!)It is an upscale manor house (Italian castle) murder, where everyone is suspect. Setting is lushly described, characters are fully formed and their motivations fully developed, reviewer-writer-speak etc, etc, etc. Just read the darned thing and you will see what I mean.Now, I have to find "The Drowning River." less

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