Book review: Murder in Verona by T.A. Williams | Italian Summer Vibes Cozy Mystery

Murder in Verona
Armstrong and Oscar Cozy Mysteries #9
by T.A. Williams

GENRE: #Contemporary #CozyMystery
My rating: ★★★★★

THE PERFECT COZY RECIPE | OPERA, SECRETS, AND AN UNEXPECTED DEATH

A gifted, womanizing opera singer. A stifling mother who wants her son all to herself. A collection of luxury cars. A prestigious opera academy for a select few. Numerous beautiful women... and one inexplicable death!

We are in Verona, Italy. Ah, Italy! Not just because I live here, but it truly is a splendid country, filled with breathtaking rural villages and magnificent cities of art.
It serves as the ultimate, captivating setting for an intelligent cozy mystery like this, where the author masterfully mixes a Poirot-esque investigation with the world of opera, a friendly dog, and mouth-watering Italian food.

BREAKING PREJUDICES | DON'T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER

I have a confession to make. I owned this book for a whole year before finally picking it up. Why? Because I was trapped in my own prejudice. While the adorable dog on the cover and the connection between Verona and Shakespeare’s Juliet appealed to me, I was convinced I would end up reading a silly, bland, low-key detective story. Well, I was completely wrong! Far from it!! If you love Agatha Christie-style detective stories but with contemporary settings, a good detective (who lacks Poirot’s petulance and collaborates beautifully with the Italian police without any presumption), and the warmth of the Italian sunshine... then this book is absolutely for you!

Before delving into my full opinion, let me share THE PLOT IN A NUTSHELL:

Dan, an English private detective who has happily settled in Tuscany, sets out for Verona—the legendary city chosen by Shakespeare as the setting for Romeo and Juliet.
Traveling alongside him are his charming Italian companion, Anna, and his fiercely faithful Labrador, Oscar.

Officially, they are in town to enjoy the world-famous opera festival at the Verona Arena (thanks to a gift from Anna's daughter!). Unofficially, Dan has just been hired for a very delicate job.
Violetta Argento, the eccentric and utterly stifling mother of the famous opera star Rodolfo Argento, refuses to believe her son's recent death was just a tragic car accident. She is absolutely convinced it was murder!

To investigate without raising suspicion, Dan, Anna, and Oscar move into the prestigious Argento Opera Academy as Violetta’s personal guests. Under the guise of simple family friends, Dan begins to dig into the school's inner circle.
As they mingle with competitive students, intense vocal coaches, and wealthy academy officials, the victim's true character profile begins to emerge. Rodolfo was a gifted man, but he left behind a trail of secrets, broken hearts, and bitter rivalries as well as a considerable amount of money. The motives for killing him are endless... and the hunt for the truth is far from simple!

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MY OPINION | WHY I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS INVESTIGATION

THE AUTHOR'S FASCINATING DESCRIPTIVE STYLE

From the very first pages, the author's way of narrating the scenes completely captivated me.
The Italian locals chatting at the village bars, those typical conversations where everyone is an expert on everything and feels they have "the truth in their pocket" on every single subject, the genuine friendliness of the hotel manager and his wife, the unmissable ritual of the "aperitivo" before dinner, the classic behavior of a loyal dog, the local ice cream shops, and even the nightmare of finding a parking spot in the historic centers of Italian cities—everything felt so real! He even accurately describes the screeching of tires on the pavement when an arrogant, wealthy lady pulls into the parking lot with her luxurious vintage car.

All these vivid details didn't just help the images flow through my mind as if I were watching a well-made movie; they made the entire story and setting completely authentic and deeply credible.

The author, much like his protagonist, is married to an Italian woman and has lived in Italy for a very long time—and it truly shows!
With just a few masterful strokes, he has painted a perfect picture of the country, tied not to hollow stereotypes, but to real life.

THE MYSTERY | A TRUTH WELL HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT

The plot and the mystery completely gripped me from the start because the author beautifully blends a classic whodunit investigation with the lightheartedness of cozy mysteries, without ever falling into boredom or superficiality.
Following the finest traditions of the Golden Age classics, our detective follows the careful practice of interviewing every single character in the victim's life. He perceptively extracts nuances and small details that might seem insignificant at first glance, but prove crucial to the investigation's progress.

Inheritance, professional envy, and broken hearts are themes we have seen revisited in thousands of mystery novels—they are a part of life, after all! But here, they are so skillfully inserted into a fascinating context. The friendliness of a wagging, affectionate dog (who happens to love singing, women's short skirts, and, even more so, the words "lunch" and "dinner"!) makes the whole atmosphere lighter and incredibly enjoyable.

I also highly appreciated the inclusion of the local police detective, Inspector Massimo Ventura. Their friendly collaboration and mutual respect gave me that wonderful sense of camaraderie that I enjoy so much in books. Their tandem interviews with the suspects made everything more plausible, clearer, and precise, completely avoiding those frustrating "blank spots" that sometimes happen in weaker whodunits.

The final solution, once uncovered, might seem obvious in hindsight. In fact, I initially suspected that exact person myself! However, the writer's skill manages to brilliantly divert your suspicions by introducing so many small puzzle pieces about numerous characters from the victim's past and present.
It built up such a strong desire in me to find out WHO HAD DONE IT AND WHY! Luckily, I resisted the temptation to skip ahead to the ending, but it was an overwhelming struggle!

THE CHARACTERS | REAL PEOPLE WITH REAL CHARM

I really liked the main character, Dan, precisely because of his normality. There is nothing eccentric or over-the-top about him; he is a divorced former Chief Inspector of Scotland Yard, starting a fresh life as a private investigator in the Tuscan countryside with his dog. The fact that he is in his fifties (and therefore my own age!) probably made me feel much closer to him.
His relatable fear of getting bored during long opera shows or city tours, balanced by his genuine desire to share his new partner's passions, along with his deep affection for his dog, make him incredibly likable and friendly.

Anna, too, despite appearing only briefly, acts as a wonderful support for our detective. She is deeply respectful of his work and his boundaries; she proposes activities she enjoys, but without ever imposing them on him. As for the rest of the cast, they are all beautifully painted—some with peculiar and rather unpleasant traits, others more affable and cooperative, but all absolutely convincing and believable.

A NEW SERIES TO EXPLORE | PERFECT AS A STANDALONE

After initially choosing this book simply by its cover and the magnetic name of the city, I discovered that it is actually part of a long-running series!
It begins in Tuscany and features investigations in several different locations around Italy, where our detective travels for vacations or business.

Even though this current installment is number #9, it can easily be read as a standalone novel. In fact, I had absolutely no problem thoroughly enjoying the story despite not having read a single one of the previous books. However, I am now incredibly curious to read the entire series from the very beginning.
I am absolutely thrilled by the prospect of experiencing new investigations and settings, exploring different beautiful Italian locations each time!

FINAL VERDICT | PERFECT FOR YOUR SUMMER READING LIST

Concluding thoughts: This book is suitable for readers of all ages, especially for travel, opera, and dog lovers! It features clean language, a fluid writing style, and it is a quick read that you can easily finish in a couple of days or less. Absolutely perfect if you are looking for a light, yet smart and engaging read! ☀️🎭🐾

Thank you all for reading my opinion 😊

With love,
Tizi 🐾

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Book review : Medicus by Ruth Downie

Medicus
Gaius Petreius Ruso Book #1)
by Ruth Downie

Alternative title ( British Edition ):
Ruso and the Disappearing Dancing Girls

My rating: ★★★☆☆
Actually 2.5 rounded up to 3 because I loved the main character.

The plot on the back cover was promising and together the length of the book ( 400 pages ) made one think of a masterfully conceived mystery full of historical details.


___ PLOT ___ (Britannia, the era in which Hadrian had just succeeded Trajan as emperor, the writer does not say it, but we are in 117 AD)
A serial killer is on the loose in Roman-occupied Britain, and Gaius Petreius Ruso is out to catch him... if he isn't killed first.

The Gods are not smiling on army doctor Gaius Petreius Ruso in his new posting in Britannia. He has vast debts, long shifts, and an overbearing hospital administrator to deal with . . .

After the news of a woman's body fished from the river and after having saved a slave from the mistreatment of her master, Ruso, the doctor of the XX Legion finds himself, despite himself, wanting to shed light on the events.

__________________

This could have been an enjoyable read of a cozy mystery (or an enjoyable historical fiction to read, if well detailed historically speaking) set among the Roman legionaries in Britain.
Instead it's a cozy mystery (nothing bad, I love them, but at least they're shorter, quicker reads) stretched out with "thin air", no historical details except the name of the emperor at the time and maybe the name of the place (Deva), where the investigation is only a couple of questions up to 75% of the book, where the author inserts any idle talk except to focus on the mystery.

I think : if you don't know how to write a mystery, write something else, if you don't know historical notions and if you don't do some research before writing a historical novel, then write a contemporary one!

I really liked the main character, the Medicus Ruso and his friend/colleague Valens, unfortunately the story is a continuous digression on useless details that serve no purpose in the story; repetitive speeches about our "hero's" past, entire chapters in which the main character repeats the same question and the narrator continues to say that it is not answered; a modern dialogue among Romans that goes beyond the limit of the acceptable, catapulting the reader onto a 1920s cozy mystery book and sometimes on a Victorian movie set, certainly jarring in the Roman Empire era!


---> WHAT I LIKED ABOUT THE MAIN CHARACTER :

- Gaius Petreius Ruso : I liked him as a character, because he is not the classic hero of flawless books, he is a good person, full of troubles to solve who would like to live in peace without finding more problems.
The beautiful part of his way of being is that he cannot ignore his conscience, his profession is what it should be even nowadays: a vocation and a mission.
He knows perfectly well that by meddling in other people's business he will find trouble, he doesn't want to do that, but his good heart doesn't allow him to ignore all the bad things around him.
While other negative reviews have described him as boring, I say that he is not at all: it's true, the brilliant way he behaves in society and the always ready joke belong to his nice and handsome colleague Valens, but Ruso, in his way of acting calm, serious and sometimes gruff, he throws his ironic jokes (or thinks them) with great mastery.
This cute character is the only reason I rounded the rating up to 3 stars.


---> WHAT I DIDEN'T LIKE ABOUT WRITING STYLE, DIALOGUES and MYSTERY :

- WRITING STYLE : I usually like descriptions that give an idea of the place, the time in which the story takes place, the type of life the characters lead and their way of being.
I know that this is the first book in a series and I also know that the writer had never been a writer before, but the publisher and other people should have realized that it's like too much of a good thing ( How do they say ? "Less is more" !!! )

Throughout the first half of the book the author continues to repeat about Ruso's debts inherited from his father, every 3 sentences the author inserts Ruso's thoughts on what his hateful ex-wife would have said.
In each small scene, the narrator continually talks about visual details (such as a badly decorated wall, mice in the house, shouting and shouting in the street) which are too many, not relevant to the mystery and lengthen the same scene by pages and pages... they become not only useless but also irritating.
This was the trick I used at school, when the essay I wrote was too short and I didn't know what else to write.
Dear author, have you done the same thing? Disappointing and annoying !


- DIALOGUES : It is clear that a novel set in ancient times, to be read easily by readers, must have a non-archaic writing style and dialogues close to today's way of speaking.
But now I ask : since when did Roman legionaries talk to each other using words like "chaps" and expressions like "Right-oh" (British slang that I only found in modern cozy mysteries set around the 1920s)???

...And the following sentence: "Hey, mister! Got a penny, mister?"
... A PENNY ???????????????
Since when did the Romans have pennies in their coins??
I won't add any further comments on the matter, better not.

I accept the modernity of language which makes reading the book lighter and more entertaining for me, but I think that an author must set limits and check whether the type of language is suitable for that era and that people or if it clashes with the whole context, just like a jarring note!

Another thing that seemed out of place to me was the continuous knocking on the door and opening the doorknob, in one scene the slave comes back with her candle in her hand, knocks on the door and stops on the threshold... Well, it looks more like a scene with a maid in the Victorian era.
The first historical evidence of the use of actual candles dates back to the 8th century ( Wikipedia ) and I have never seen films and TV series set in the first century AD where people walked around with candles in their hands... they are usually seen torches on the walls and people walking around with torches.


- MYSTERY AND INVESTIGATION: Almost non-existent.
We have the first suspicious death at the beginning of the book, but even if Ruso is immediately hesitant about the fact that it is an accident and puts forward the hypothesis that it is murder, in fact he only asks a couple of questions around and the whole story is a continuation of patient visits by Ruso. Except for one, none of these patients are relevant to the mystery, they are just part of Ruso's daily life.
Well it's nice to know the character's daily routine, but here we have his life described minute by minute, day after day, from breakfast, to the nights, from all chats with his friend, to the questions he asks himself on his mind and to a thousand other silly things. ..
A book full of thin air!
Only 70% of the way through the story do we have more questions and only in the last chapters do we see a little movement in the story and then the solution (nothing sensational).

- HISTORICAL DETAILS : Same thing as before, i.e. almost non-existent.
Just a mention of the death of Emperor Trajan and the succession of Hadrian.
There is also mention of the Roman baths (that is, the slaves of a bar/brothel go to the baths, nothing else).

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Maybe the following books in the series are better documented, but I think the writing style remains the same and it's not for me, I absolutely don't feel like going on with the series.
I will try other mysteries with the same setting, but by other authors.
So far, the truly well-documented and compelling historical fictions are those of the Italian writer Valerio Massimo Manfredi.

Thank you for reading my opinion and please forgive my English, it's not my native language, I am from Italy (and I live in a town founded by Romans! :-) )


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