I came to this book knowing nothing about it. I’m leaving it unfinished at 50%, knowing I hate pretty much everything about it…

First of all, it’s rare that I read a novel and can tell after 5% that the author is an old white man. Why, you ask? Well, the hero, a retired police detective, never stops lamenting about his estranged and soon-to-be ex-wife while at the same time never stopping to ogle and lust after other women. Always commenting on their bodies, never on anything else…

»She had short hair and was wearing no make-up but didn’t need any.«

How very generous of him! The hero also keeps assigning “funny” nicknames to everyone around him, e. g. “»Agatha (aka Marge Simpson)« or the housekeeper/valet whom he calls “Dracula”. Of course, he’d never say that to anyone’s face.

Also, our hero is full of entitled self-pity and oh-so-funny remarks…

»This is justifiably reputed to be one of the greatest works of art in the world but all I can say is that it was probably a very cold day when Michelangelo sculpted the part of the statue’s anatomy that was attracting most of the attention.«

Also, this thing is excessively boring. Together with the turd that came before it, it induced the worst reading slump in my life so far.

The entire novel consists primarily of sexism, clichés and stereotypes and is so full of everything I do not like at all, that I can only actively warn against reading this.

To round this up, here’s all you probably want to know about Williams in his own words…

“Firstly, my name isn't T A. It's Trevor. I write under the androgynous name T A Williams because 65% of books are read by women. In my first book, "What Happens in Devon" one of the (female) characters suggests the imbalance is due to the fact that men spend too much time getting drunk and watching football. I couldn't possibly comment. Ask my wife…”

Amusingly, my wife actually read this in parallel (without either of us knowing that!) and gave up at almost exactly the same point and she had exactly the same things to say about - just in a less friendly way than I do here…

One star out of five for this streaming pile of faeces.

Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Mastodon | Instagram | Pinterest | Medium | Matrix | Tumblr

Ceterum censeo Putin esse delendam ( )

Dan Armstrong is a retired British DCI and is visiting Tuscany to participate in a creative writing workshop. It was a gift from his officers for his retirement. Little did he know that the majority of writers would all be from the erotic genre so he is a bit uncomfortable from the start.

The expected instructor, a retired writer, is found dead shortly after the start and the local police learning of Dan's background ask him to do some "undercover" investigating.

There are numerous twists and turns but the ending is extremely satisfying.
Looking forward to the next one. ( )

Recently retired London DCI Dan Armstrong was given a two week creative writing course as a retirement present by his former colleagues. The focus of the course is a surprise to him, and several times he has thought of not attending. But the location in Tuscany is a drawcard.

The fact that the writer who has initiated the course is found dead after a couple days, stabbed to the heart in his dining room while Dan is visiting the police in Florence becomes an added bonus.

The case ends up changing the direction of Dan's life.

An enjoyable cozy read. ( )

This is a charming murder mystery in a beautiful setting. When the leader ofa writing workshop is murdered, a recently retired DCI finds himself solving crimes rather than learning to write. ( )

A Simple Whodunnit Mystery..................

Murder In Tuscany by T A Williams is a simple mystery about a murder in a villa with 11 residents. Although, the plot is simple, but, still it has a spark right from the beginning. At first, while reading I was eager to know that who is going to be murdered? And, after that who is the culprit? Indeed a good book to finish within a day. All the characters are far apart from each other, but, they are introduced as same at first. The real juice comes towards the end when the story unfolds in layers. I really enjoyed the story. Tip of the iceberg is that you cannot miss Oscar, the dog.

Definitely, the book is 5 stars. Thanks to Rachel's Random Resources and Netgalley for providing me an opportunity to read and review the book. ( )