Dead Season

November 1, 2012
A pair of apparently unrelated men gone missing during the hottest month of the Florentine year pose another mystery for policeman-turned-private investigator Sandro Cellini (A Murder in Tuscany, 2011, etc.). Very little happens in Florence in August. All the locals who have the means to do so have left while the city bakes in the summer heat. Among the departed, one man stands out: bank branch manager Claudio Josef Brunello, the lover of heavily pregnant chambermaid Anna Niescu, who's frantic to find out what's become of him since the last time he kissed her goodbye. At first, it seems that Claudio has vanished for the best reason of all: because he's dead, killed and dumped at the eastern edge of the city. Dramatically contradictory identifications by Anna and the bank manager's unexpected wife, Irene, however, indicate that Anna's lover disappeared for an even better reason: because he never existed, at least not as Claudio Brunello--he was only masquerading as him. While Sandro works to put a more accurate name to the father of Anna's baby and track him down, Roxana Delfino, a teller in Claudio's branch, becomes increasingly uneasy about the disappearance of the nameless man who came to the bank regularly to deposit the receipts from the Carnevale, the neighborhood's pornographic cinema. Apart from the elaborate parallels drawn between Sandro and Roxana, from their devotion to their jobs to their complicated feelings about their families, how are the two disappearances that concern them connected? Kent unfolds her tale so slowly and methodically, at least until the incongruously melodramatic ending, that many readers, presumably not laboring in the August heat, will beat both Sandro and Roxana to the solution. Though she lacks Donna Leon's sly humor and her keen insight into the political implications of individual bad behavior, Kent covers much of the same territory in even more ceremonious prose.

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October 1, 2012

It's tough working during Florence's sweltering August days, but PI Sandro Cellini agrees to look for pregnant Anna Niescu's missing fiance Josef, whose full name is Claudio Josef Brunello. But it turns out the name she's given him matches that of a bank manager who has just been murdered. Coincidences build when an observant bank teller recognizes Josef (from a photo) as a regular customer who hasn't shown up for the past few days. When a second victim dies--a weaselly real estate type with connections back to the bank--bingo, no more coincidences. Sandro's former police partner feeds him information while Sandro's assistant and his wife work the neighborhoods, getting people to open up about Anna's missing young man. Maybe they can save him yet. VERDICT British author Kent has crafted an appealing detective series (after A Murder in Tuscany and The Drowning River) with strong atmospheric elements, a dash of romance, and plenty of creepy situations to set the suspense-o-meter on high. The ending might seem a bit contrived, but it's guaranteed to please those who like the loose ends tied up. Recommend highly to readers who miss Magdalen Nabb's and Michael Dibdin's works.

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2012
August is the dead season in Florence, when the streets are empty of all but the most determined tourists and all but the unluckiest Florentines, those unable to escape on vacation. This mystery focuses on two of the people forced to stay in Florence and their unlikely connection. One is series hero Sandro Cellini, a former captain in the Polizia dello Stato and now a private investigator. The other is Roxana Delfino, a bank teller in an all but empty bank. Their connection is to a man who failed to show up, both to meet his very pregnant girlfriend and to make his weekly deposit at the bank. The man is discovered, dead, next to a busy highway just outside the city. The alternating points of view between private eye and bank teller and the glimpses we get into their domestic struggles prove intriguing. The action can be a bit sluggish, but it's August, after all, and we'll willingly take a little lethargy for the chance to visit Cellini and his Florence.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)