A Time of Mourning

Christobel Kent is an author who deserves to be better known. A Time of Mourning is her latest book and it features Sandro Cellini who appeared in A Florentine Revenge. He has now been 'retired' from the police and at his wife's urging has set up as a private investigator. His first client is the widow of a Jewish architect who apparently committed suicide by walking into the River Arno. But things are not as simple as they first appear.

On the same day, a student from one of Florence's many international schools of art goes missing and her mother asks Sandro to find out what has happened. When he finds a connection between his two cases his old spirit of enquiry is reawakened. Full of murky goings on and complex characters with mysterious motives, this is an excellent subtle and understated read. Florence is displayed in a guise unfamiliar to tourists as the action of the story takes place during a very rainy week in November. I enjoyed it and I hope the author is going to write more about Sandro Cellini who is far from being the traditional tough guy Italian cop and is more made in the mould of Donna Leon's Guido Brunetti.

Late Season

Christobel Kent's Late Season is every bit as good as her previous novels. very atmospheric with two mysteries at its core. A group of English people rent an out of the way Italian farmhouse for a late holiday. Meanwhile Italian Anna and her adult son Paolo have reached a crisis point at Anna's isolated house a few kilometres away.

The holidaymakers are mourning a friend who would normally have been with them and her presence looms large. Paolo is trying to persuade Anna to tell him about his dead father. The explanation of both these mysteries will leave everyone changed. You can almost taste, smell and see Italy when you read this book and the writing is unobtrusive and understated. A joy to read and cheaper than a holiday in Italy!

Very Valentine

I've just finished reading Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani. It was all right for a light read but I found Valentine herself an irritating person. She spent too much time complaining the good things of life passed her by instead of actually doing something about her situation.

The background to the book was interesting as it was about shoe making. I learned a lot about shoe making that I didn't know before. Valentine is part of a vociferous Italian American family and lives and works with her 80 year old grandmother designing and making bespoke wedding shoes - a niche market if ever there was one. The business has financial problems and needs to expand but Valentine does not appear to do anything about this.

Valentines meets and falls for Roman - another Italian American - who has set up a new restaurant. They seem unable to find time to spend together even though Valentine spends a lot of time complaining this is Roman's fault rather than hers. She seems as though she wants a relationship on her own terms and is not prepared to compromise at all. The other women in the story seem to be totally obsessed with clothes and plastic surgery and trying to keep their men folk happy - which is the opposite to Valentine. Overall a good book but it was a shame about the main character.

Beautiful People

I finished reading Wendy Holden's Beautiful People last night and was quite sad when I finished the last page. Apart from being a light hearted romantic comedy it does have some serious points to make about celebrity in all walks of life and appearances in general. The last half of it is set in Italy where all the characters end up for various reasons and is excellent. There are some very funny scenes and some brilliant dialogue. The descriptions are beautiful as well especially of the food. Introducing a new main character half way through a book doesn't always work but in this case the introduction of Marco - restaurant owner and chef - works perfectly. The photographer, Ken, who suddenly takes off for Italy on a whim with no baggage and nowhere to stay is a gem as well. Loved it.