Review: Murder in Tuscany

Murder in Tuscany by T.A. Williams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When DCI Daniel Armstrong retired from the Met Police in London his colleagues, as a leaving present bought him a stay at a creative writing course in a villa in Tuscany hosted by author Jonah Moore. It is debatable whether or not they knew that it was for writers of erotica :)

Dan has split from his wife of thirty years, his devotion to his job and inability to switch off in social situations were major factors and his retirement was too little too late. So this course is as much to think out his next steps in life as to learn whether he could take up writing as a second career.

His fellow students are nothing like the perverted men he imagined, instead they are mostly women. Ranging from two mature ladies from Littlehampton, a history professor who wants to write a novel about Roman orgies, a brother and sister from Canada who want to write erotica, and several more novices who want to learn how to write.

Dan can't help but notice that their host, Jonah is a heavy drinking letch, he ogles several of the female guests, even fondles one of them all under the nose of his wife Maria and sister Millicent. Despite the course being touted as being taught by Jonah the actual lessons are given by Millicent and a woman called Serena who has had several novels published. He also notes that there is something suspicious about Will and Rachel the brother and sister from Canada.

When their host is found dead after lunch, stabbed through the heart with a silver dagger he was awarded for one of his novels, almost everyone is a suspect. Apart from Dan who was visiting Commissario Virgilio Pisano, an acquaintance of one Dan's colleagues, delivering a bottle of scotch.

The plot thickens when the pathologist finds that Jonah was not only stabbed; he had also ingested a lethal dose of cyanide, and a non-fatal dose of Oleandrin. Was one person responsible for all three attempts or could the villa house three separate would-be murderers?

I enjoyed this, I have seen other reviews which complain about the way in which Dan objectifies Charlotte with references to her short skirts etc. I didn't get that vibe at all. In fact, I thought T.A. Williams was a woman until I came to write this review. I saw Dan's remarks (internal) as more the awakening of an interest in a woman other than his wife and how he was surprised by suddenly noticing her attractiveness on a personal basis rather than objectively as he would have done when he was married.

I liked this, although the luscious descriptions of the food and countryside dud have me googling the price of cottages in Tuscany and thinking about booking a holiday LOL. Some of the reveals were a little predictable, but others came as a surprise. I will definitely read the next in the series.

Read on my Kindle Unlimited subscription.

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