David P Wagner

foodie, amateur-sleuth, Italian-customs, Italy, local-law-enforcement, local-politics, murder-investigation, family, family-dynamics, friendship, friends, relationship-issues, relationships, relatives, translators, interagency, interpreter, mystery*****

I'm kind of hopscotching with this series. I read book 8 last summer thanks to PPP and NetGalley and now hopped into this one on audio. Not a problem, really, because the mystery/locations/foodie stuff was more important than relationship issues. Professional multilingual translator/interpreter Rick Montoya (who is both Italian and from New Mexico) prefers to wear cowboy boots, and his girlfriend Dottoressa Betta Innocenti (an "art cop" from the Ministry of Culture) are the ongoing characters in a mystery series that made me drool with the descriptions of the foods eaten.
Rick has frequently worked with police investigators, and of the police inspectors is not new to him. His familial task regarding a much younger cousin gets tangled up in the murder investigation he finds himself involved in and things get a bit messy. The characters are all very interesting, the plot does not detract from the travelogue (it enhances it!), and the whole is absolutely delightful. Now I'm off to read more in this series!
David Colacci is a familiar voice actor from other mysteries set in various parts of Italy and I like listening to him.… (altro)

I chose to read this book to remind me of Rome, one of my favorite cities to visit. The book does provide some interesting information about the city (which makes me despair for the post COVID-19 future of the neighborhood trattorias and salumerie), but mostly it sticks to what a tourist could find in any good travel guide. I did not appreciate the "cozy" telling of the mystery (where the ugly details of murder are glossed over), the lackluster plot and resolution, and especially the author's poor descriptions of the female characters. To hear him tell it, Rome is populated by an interchangeable array of "hot" women, all throwing themselves at the protagonist, which makes for very dull reading. I will not read other books in this series. Not recommended.… (altro)