The Killing Room

June 8, 2015
In British author Kent’s engaging fifth Sandro Cellini mystery (after 2013’s A Darkness Descending), the former police detective reluctantly takes a job as security consultant for Palazzo San Giorgio,
a Florentine palace renovated into luxury apartments. His predecessor, Giancarlo Vito, was fired after failing to stop a series of crimes, ranging from petty theft to a pet dog’s disappearance. As Sandro begins to probe the fraught relations among the palazzo’s unsavory residents, Vito and a journalist investigating the tenants are murdered. Complex, well-drawn characters compensate for some plot weaknesses (e.g., the bumbling Sandro arrives at a solution mostly by luck). The innately decent detective’s relationship with his wife, Luisa, forms
a strong counterpoint to the twisted
marriages and liaisons within the palazzo, while his sometime assistant, former prostitute and drug addict Giulietta Sarto, discovers an unexpected friend from her tormented past. At its best, Kent’s understated style is powerful and evocative, even if the action verges on melodrama. Agent: Nathaniel Jacks, Inkwell Management.

August 1, 2015

Sandro Cellini, a former cop-turned-PI, is hired as the head of security at a luxury residential hotel overlooking Florence. His predecessor died suspiciously, and then a resident is murdered. Can Sandro wend his way through the complex array of relationships in this centuries-old palazzo? Fifth in the series following A Darkness Descending.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2015
The fifth novel starring Detective Sandro Cellini of Florence is something of a country-house mystery, with all the vices and foibles of the very rich on display. Cellini, a former cop and now private investigator, and his wife, Luisa, are asked to attend the grand opening of a luxury private residence on a slope overlooking the Arno. While the Palazzo San Giorgio is certainly sumptuous, the patched-over neglect (and ancient torture chamber just discovered at its base) of the labyrinthine building gives Cellini the creeps. After the opening gala, which reveals promising tensions and rivalries among the residents, a woman is discovered dead in her room. Cellini, who has been asked to serve as temporary director of security at the San Giorgio after the former head has suddenly and mysteriously died, is up to his ears in suspects. Kent is marvelous with description, both of her characters and of the vagaries of Florence. Her addition of Luisa Cellini's wry, insightful point of view adds much to the story. The focus on the San Giorgio makes this latest Cellini very tight and tense.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)