Editorial Content for Return to Umbria: A Rick Montoya Italian Mystery
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
The Rick Montoya series dishes up Italian food and wine along with murder mysteries. RETURN TO UMBRIA takes amateur sleuth Montoya to Orvieto, a charming hill town that’s an easy distance from his home in Rome, with a spectacular cathedral that draws tourists by the droves. As Rick and his lady friend, Betta Innocenti, arrive --- ascending via the funicular --- they note three American women riding in the car with them. Orvieto being quite small, it is not surprising that Rick runs into them again. And again. But in a strange turn of events, one of them is discovered dead. Why would anyone murder a tourist in this popular village known not only for its cathedral but also for its safety?
"RETURN TO UMBRIA moves along at a pleasant pace and keeps its readers guessing right up until the end."
Rick’s original purpose for the visit --- aside from a chance to escape Rome for a few days --- was to convince cousin Fabrizio that he should end his torrid affair with an older, married woman who has set her young lover up in a nice apartment. Rick realizes this could take some doing, and may even be impossible, but he has promised his uncle that he will try. To make matters worse, Fabrizio’s paramour is married to a prominent businessman who has almost endless resources at his disposal and a bad temper to go along with his massive ego. Especially because of his high profile, he isn’t one to abide his wife flaunting another man right under his nose. And inadvertently, Betta witnesses a violent side to the man. But does he have anything to do with the dead American?
The murdered woman is identified as one Rhonda Van Fleet, nee Davis. Some longtime village residents might remember her from the days she spent in Orvieto during an art program she attended abroad. But Rhonda has kept that time of her life a secret. Even her daughter, Gina, on this trip with Rhonda and another lady, knows nothing of her mother’s past. After all these years, it seems that someone wanted her out of the picture and has made sure that happened.
Meanwhile, Rick is trying to see the sights and enjoy Betta, but the local police keep interrupting their time together with pleas for his help. Rick’s nose for crime solving just about matches his desire to be in the thick of the investigation, so Betta graciously encourages him to go ahead and do whatever he can to aid in solving the murder. She can wander Orvieto’s cobbled streets by herself, at least until Rick frees up some time to accompany her.
If you decide to join the two of them, be prepared for a grand tour of Orvieto and some of its surroundings, stopping at all the right times to indulge in some delectable Italian food, naturally washed down with the region’s fine wine. RETURN TO UMBRIA moves along at a pleasant pace and keeps its readers guessing right up until the end. David P. Wagner has created a fun series, and I’m already looking forward to the next installment.
Teaser
Orvieto. Its very name brings to mind priceless art, colorful ceramics, straw-colored wine, and the most famous cathedral façade in Italy, a structure of gothic spires, arches, statues and mosaics. When Rick Montoya moved to Italy to work as a freelance translator using his dual heritage, he didn’t expect to be helping the Italian police. During his fourth investigation, his language skills draw him into the brutal murder of an American visitor. Strong suspects, tantalizing secrets, concealed motives and risky behaviors tie to a fascinating landscape and layers of Orvieto’s past.
Promo
Orvieto. Its very name brings to mind priceless art, colorful ceramics, straw-colored wine, and the most famous cathedral façade in Italy, a structure of gothic spires, arches, statues and mosaics. When Rick Montoya moved to Italy to work as a freelance translator using his dual heritage, he didn’t expect to be helping the Italian police. During his fourth investigation, his language skills draw him into the brutal murder of an American visitor. Strong suspects, tantalizing secrets, concealed motives and risky behaviors tie to a fascinating landscape and layers of Orvieto’s past.
About the Book
Orvieto --- its very name brings to mind priceless art, colorful ceramics, straw-colored wine and the most famous cathedral façade in Italy, a structure of gothic spires, arches, statues and mosaics. But as Rick Montoya discovers, this jewel of Umbria can have an ugly side as well.
When Rick Montoya moved to his mother’s Italy from his father’s Santa Fe, New Mexico, to work as a freelance translator using his dual heritage, he didn’t expect to be helping the Italian police. His maternal uncle, a high-level commissioner in Rome, however, sees no reason not to use the resources at hand.
Rick’s fourth investigation should not have involved crime. It begins when Rick is asked by his uncle to go to Orvieto to talk some sense into his cousin Fabrizio, whose fling with an older married woman is embarrassing the family. Rick agrees to give it a try, and plans a short but romantic weekend in Orvieto with Betta Innocenti, the woman he met in Bassano. What could go wrong?
Less than a day after their arrival, his language skills draw him into the brutal murder of an American visitor. He finds that he knows the policeman in charge, but Inspector LoGuercio has changed since the time they met in Volterra. The murdered woman had studied art in Italy decades earlier --- why has she returned now? And why was she dumped at night on a dusty road? Through her traveling companions, her devastated daughter and best friend, as well as a growing list of those who knew her from her student days, they realize she had come to Orvieto to face the past. And then a second murder occurs in a public park, with Montoya so close that he wonders if he could have been the intended target. Is all this connected to Fabrizio and his affair, or to the American’s death? More violence erupts, some of it definitely directed at Rick himself.
Strong suspects, tantalizing secrets, concealed motives and risky behaviors tie to a fascinating landscape and layers of Orvieto’s past.
Audiobook available, read by David Colacci
