Murder on the Vine (A Tuscan Mystery, #3)

by Camilla Trinchieri

Ex-NYPD homicide detective Nico Doyle investigates the murder of a local bartender in the Tuscan countryside.

On a late October Sunday morning in Gravigna, local maresciallo Perillo is having breakfast with ex-NYPD detective Nico Doyle when he is called back to the station in Greve. Laura Benati, the young manager of Hotel Bella Vista, is worried—her bartender and good friend eighty-year-old Cesare Costanzi has been missing for three days. 
 
The next morning, Jimmy, co-owner of Bar All’Angolo, Gravigna’s local café, where Nico is a frequent patron, runs out of gas on his way back from Florence. When Nico meets him to help, Nico’s dog, OneWag, reacts to the smell coming from Jimmy’s trunk. Inside Nico finds a body wrapped in plastic: Cesare Costanzi, stabbed several times in the chest.
 
Why would anyone kill Cesare, and how did he end up in Jimmy’s car? That’s for Nico to find out, as Perillo once again turns to Nico for help with the investigation.

• ISBN10: 1641293667
• ISBN13: 9781641293662
• Publish Date: 13 September 2022
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Soho Press
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 336
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781641293662

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

Murder on the Vine is the third Tuscan mystery by Camilla Trinchieri. Released 13th Sept 2022 by Soho Press on their Soho Crime imprint, it's 336 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats. E-format is especially useful here, for flipping back and forth to the dramatis personae list the author has included. 

This is a very well written destination mystery, absolutely redolent of the Italian countryside and full of the food and culture of the area. Ex NYPD detective Nico Doyle winds up helping a local restaurateur figure out how a local man wound up stabbed, wrapped in plastic, and stuffed into his trunk. The plotting is well controlled and the characterizations are beautifully rendered and believable. It works well enough as a standalone, but readers may struggle a bit to keep the characters straight. Use of the character list in the back of the book is recommended.

There will be inevitable comparisons with Leon's Brunetti, Walker's Bruno, and Bannalec's Dupin. Although not at all derivative, this series is more than competently written and can stand on its own merits in that company. 

Four and a half stars. Quite highly recommended, especially to fans of destination mysteries and procedurals. 

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.