Murder In Chianti by Camilla Trinchieri

Look at this gorgeous cover! It immediately drew me in. Nothing quite like a scene from Tuscany to draw my attention. I was all in from the getgo.

MURDER IN CHIANTI is the first in a new series called A TUSCAN MYSTERY. I can’t tell you how excited I am. My friend Karen at Copperfish turned me onto this book. Karen, I can’t thank you enough.

Nico Doyle is a retired homicide detective from New York City. After his wife died about a year ago, he decided to get away from it all and start over in his wife’s hometown of Gravigna in Tuscany, Italy. There he has her entire family to help him get through the pain. So he’s rented a rundown farmhouse just outside the small town of Gravigna. He helps out at his wife’s cousin’s restaurant and spends time cooking and settling into his new life. Then, one day, he hears a gunshot near his home and heads out into the woods to explore. There he comes upon a little white dog with blood on its paws. And then there is the dead body with a face that’s been blown away. And the gold running shoes that suggest the victim is American.

OneWag is the smart little dog he adopts. This name comes from the way he only wags his tail one time, no matter what. Fell for the dog right away.

Camilla Trinchieri

When the local maresciallo has trouble with the investigation and finds out Nico’s background, Nico finds himself up to his last hair in the murder mystery.

There’s plenty of family drama all over this story which is great because it gives the reader a lot of background for the future.

Stone cottage in Panzano

I am especially interested in this series because my husband and I have spent time in this region. In fact, we stayed in a stone house in Panzano and had dinner with the infamous Butcher of Panzano: Dario Cecchini. Some of the scenes in this book bring back so many memories. When we visited the Butcher’s famous shop, we had our first experience with lardo which was loaded like fluffy whipped potatoes in a silver bowl on a serving table right inside the door. It was to be spread on top of the local crostini fanned out on a platter next to it. A man in an apron served us each glasses of the local red to go with. We were so entranced that we made reservations to attend one of the meat dinners later in the week. We almost got thrown out of the shop, though, as my husband whipped out his video camera and proceeded to film the counter with the Butcher……But all ended well.

The luscious food of this region and the lovely Tuscan wines feature broadly in this mystery. I think you will love it. And, the good news is that the next in the series, THE BITTER TASTE OF MURDER, will be available in August. I was thrilled to know this.

I hope you’ll add this winner to your beach bag for summer. And you can always stop by Copperfish Books and talk to Karen about the book. She loved it, too

MURDER IN CHIANTI was published by Soho Crime, a division of Soho Publishing. I read this amazing book from a copy I borrowed from our library. Amazing.