Murder Most Unfortunate

September 21, 2015
Wagner’s adequate third mystery featuring translator Rick Montoya (after 2014’s Death in the Dolomites) finds Rick just finishing up a job as an interpreter at a conference in Bassano del Grappa, Italy, devoted to native artist Jacopo da Bassano. When someone fatally dispatches professor Lorenzo Fortuna, the conference’s most prominent participant, Rick believes Fortuna’s murder is linked to a pair of lost Jacopo paintings, which disappeared during the chaos in northern Italy toward the end of WWII. After cozying up to the police, Rick persuades Betta Innocenti, the gorgeous daughter of a local art dealer, to help him investigate. The many suspects range from Italians—a curator, a seminar panelist, a banker—to foreigner scholars. A second murder raises the stakes. A subplot involving Rick’s Italian ex-girlfriend, Erica Pedana, stretches out the already thin narrative. Wagner does a better job of showcasing the beauty of Bassano than he does constructing an effective whodunit.

September 1, 2015
Interpreter Rick Montoya (Death in the Dolomites, 2014, etc.) earns an unexpected vacation when an art conference ends in murder. By most accounts, the seminar in Bassano del Grappa was a rousing success, especially for Stefano Porcari, whose bank had sponsored the event, and Paolo Tibaldi, whose museum played host. Scholars from around the world met to discuss the works of Jacopo Bassano, the region's most famous native son. Even wealthy businessmen like art dealer Franco Sarchetti enjoyed the discussion, especially when scholars debated the fate of Jacopo's two missing paintings. But for professor Lorenzo Fortuna, the conference's most argumentative participant, the afterglow is short-lived, since he's killed soon after the seminar ends. Inspector Giuliano Occasio, who misses no opportunity to throw his weight around, forbids all the participants to leave Bassano until the case is solved. While British scholar George Oglesby, German Karl Muller, and American Jeffrey Randolph fume, Rick entertains himself by exploring Bassano's Piazza Monte Vecchio, the Piazza Garibaldi, the Museo Civico-and by striking up a friendship with Betta Innocenti, daughter of another local art dealer. Rick's Po Valley idyll draws to an unexpected close when he realizes Occasio is focusing on him as chief suspect. Occasio's second-in-command, Detective Alfredo DiMaio, appeals to Rick's Italian side, warning him to seek intervention from his uncle, a high-ranking member of Italy's art police. But Rick's American side wins out, and with Betta's help, he springs the restless scholars by solving the case. Like many overseas regionals, Wagner's latest is part puzzle, part travelogue, likely to appeal most to readers who want a proxy visit to Italy.

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November 1, 2015

Returning in his third outing (after Death in the Dolomites), Rick Montoya travels to Bassano del Grappa to work as a translator at an art seminar. When one of the attendees ends up dead, Rick can't keep himself from investigating, along with Betta Innocenti, the daughter of a local gallery owner. Rick, as always, is a charming sleuth.

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October 15, 2015
In his third outing (following Death in the Dolomites, 2014), Italian American translator Rick Montoya once again finds himself putting his linguistic skills to use in solving a crime. Having recently returned to Italy, Montoya travels to Bassano del Grappa to serve as a translator for international scholars at a conference on the artist Jacopo da Bassano. He's asked to help the local police interview suspects when one of the conference speakers is murdered. Professor Lorenzo Fortuna rubbed nearly everyone the wrong way, but what could he have said or done that would be worth taking a life? Could it have something to do with the two missing paintings that are still the grail to Jacopo collectors? Montoya finds a bellisima tour guide in Betta, the adventurous daughter of a local gallery owner. Though he spent his childhood in Rome, Montoya proudly kicks around Italy in the cowboy boots he brought with him from the years he spent in New Mexico. He is an easygoing, empathetic protagonistwith just enough American irreverence to keep his Italian colleagues entertained.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)