Bologna, Italy's happiest city - or is it?
A grieving father asks Dan to uncover the truth behind the death of his gifted son, a student at Bologna's prestigious Art Institute. Accompanied by his loyal Labrador, Oscar, Dan heads north from Florence to investigate.
Still life or still death?
The student's former girlfriend is consumed by grief and the Art Institute is mourning one of its brightest talents. But beneath the surface, Dan senses that someone is hiding the truth.
(Artistic) license to kill?
Doing a favour for his friend, Commissario Virgilio Pisano of the Florence murder squad, Dan soon finds himself caught up in the shady world of drug dealing, organised crime and fraud on a grand scale.
A paintbrush with death.
When the killer strikes again, Dan faces one of his toughest cases yet. With Officer Oscar's nose for trouble, he must catch the murderer before it's too late. (Synopsis courtesy of Goodreads.)
I know I always say that the latest book in the Armstrong and Oscar Cozy Mystery series is my favorite–but, I really mean it, every time! I thoroughly enjoyed Murder in Bologna. I think it was due to the more unique plotline, with Dan investigating a potential murder that has been deemed a suicide. There was a heavier emotional component, but with many of the same systematic research tools that Dan often uses at his disposal, to find out what truly happened to Luca, a young man who had given no clues to anyone that would signify a suicide.
There are plenty of suspects, which is often the case for Dan and Oscar, with possibilities ranging from the ex-girlfriend, to fellow classmates, to instructors and even those who could potentially have mafia affiliations. And Dan can’t rule out the possibility that Luca is at the center of it all. In the end, it’s never the answer you thought it might be, as suspects and scenarios are knocked out, one by one, until the real true answer is left standing. I felt that Oscar really stepped up his game, too. In other books in the series, he’s often coming to Dan’s rescue in the nick of time, but this go around he truly was an investigative sidekick, adding even more to the outcome, all in the name of justice.
While all books for T.A. Williams includes gorgeous scenery, the foodie in me fell in love with the delicious meals and eateries mentioned in Murder in Bologna. During his investigations, Dan will often make pit stops for lunch, Oscar at his feet, enjoying the best Italian delicacies. For years I’ve said that I want to go and see such sights for myself, and now that those plans are coming more to fruition for me (a 50th birthday trip still in the works for next year), I know I’ll be thinking about the scenery and food mentioned, comparing Dan’s experiences to my own.
The eventual truth, once revealed, was satisfying and made sense. There was no link left unhitched, every connection leading to what really happened to Luca. It really is the best addition to the series so far, worthy of the five-stars I’ve given it!
Thanks to Rachel's Random Resources for the book in exchange for an honest review.
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Author Bio (in his own words) – I’m a man. And a pretty old man as well. I studied languages at Nottingham University a long time ago and then lived and worked in France and Switzerland before going to work in Italy for seven years. My Italian wife and I then came back to the UK with our little daughter (now long-since grown up) where I ran a big English language school for many years. We now live in a sleepy little village in Devonshire. I’ve been writing almost all my life but it was only 13 years ago that I finally managed to find a publisher who liked my work enough to offer me my first contract.
I started off writing romances but after 28 of them, I knew I wanted to try something different, and so the first of the Armstrong and Oscar cozy mysteries, Murder in Tuscany, was born three years ago. I’ve been having a lot of fun ever since getting to know the dynamic duo (and introducing them to people all over the world). These books are cosy crime [a genre I didn't even know existed when I started writing them). They are murder mysteries, but not gory, over-violent stuff, but stories designed to exercise the brain of the reader and to put a smile on their face. Maybe it’s because there are so many horrible things happening in the world today that I feel I need to do my best to provide something to cheer my readers up. My books provide escapism to some gorgeous locations all over my beloved Italy.
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