Cold Tuscan Stone
3/5
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About this ebook
The first Tuscan book in David P. Wagner's Italian mysteries introduces us to Rick Montoya, an American translator who agrees to help catch art smugglers—and soon finds himself in over his head.
"Perfect for readers who enjoy a complex puzzle, a bit of humor, and a fairly gentle procedural. Don't miss this one."—Library Journal, STARRED review
When Rick Montoya moves to Italy to work as a translator, he doesn't expect to get involved in an investigation. But with one favor spiraling out of control, he soon finds himself fighting for his life.
Rick Montoya has moved from New Mexico to Rome, embracing the life of a translator. He's settling in to la dolce vita when a school friend who is now senior in the Italian Art Squad recruits Rick for an unofficial undercover role. Armed with a list of galleries, suspects, and an expense account, Rick arrives in Tuscany posing as a buyer for a gallery, ready to spend his days sipping wine and examining Roman artifacts to flush out burial urn traffickers.
But before sunset on Rick's first day in Volterra, a gallery employee dies in a brutal fall from a high cliff.
The local Commissario and his team consider Rick an amateur, and worse, a foreigner. And now they suspect him in the dead man's murder. While the Volterra squad pursues its leads, Rick continues to meeting his own suspects: a museum director, a top gallery owner, a low-profile import/export businessman and his enterprising color-coordinated assistant, and a sensuous heiress with a private art specialty and clientele.
As the murder mystery and the art trafficking heat up, has Rick's role made him the target of both cops and criminals?
This special first-in-series edition includes an introduction by the author, discussion guide, author interview, and excerpt from the second book in the series.
Praise for Cold Tuscan Stone:
"This is a wonderful start to a series, which should have immediate legs, and surely will thrill everyone who has lived in Italy, been to Italy, or would like to visit. As a boy I lived in both Firenze and Napoli, and reading Wagner takes me back deeply and instantly."
—Joseph Heywood, author of The Woods Cop Mysteries, The Snowfly, and The Berkut
"If you are interested in Italian art and artifacts, Italian history and culture, Italian food and wine, or even just good storytelling, then Cold Tuscan Stone will be right up your cobblestone alleyway… Simply put, this exciting, intriguing, well-written mystery extends an offer no reader should refuse."
—Amanda Matetsky, author of The Paige Turner Mysteries
"The intriguing art milieu, mouthwatering cuisine, and the team of the ironic Conti and the bemused but agile Montoya are bound to attract fans."
—Publishers Weekly
Other books in the Rick Montoya Italian Mysteries:
Death in the Dolomites
Murder Most Unfortunate
Return to Umbria
A Funeral in Mantova
Roman Count Down
To Die In Tuscany
David P. Wagner
David P. Wagner is a retired foreign service officer who spent nine years in Italy, learning to love things Italian. Other diplomatic assignments included Brazil, Ecuador, and Uruguay, as well as two hardship postings to Washington, D.C. He and his wife, Mary, live in Pueblo, Colorado.
Read more from David P. Wagner
Death in the Dolomites Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Roman Count Down Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Return to Umbria Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Murder Most Unfortunate Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Funeral in Mantova Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5To Die in Tuscany Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
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Reviews for Cold Tuscan Stone
15 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I found this author by exploring the Poison Pen Press website. With school starting up again (lots of reading for Children's Lit this semester) I was looking for: mystery, short, easy on the brain.
Mr. Wagner did well by me. This first in a series about a dual-citizen guy (US & Italy) living in Rome was enjoyable. They mystery was pretty deep, he, though not a cop, was working undercover for the Ministry of Art, so not just some nosy guy annoying the police with "help". [sorry cozy mystery lovers!] But it does fit the cozy profile, rather like Karry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher series fits (sort of) the name.
Lots of good mention of Tuscan food - win, win - a touch too much "whoa, can't figure out Italian women!"
All in all, could recommend this to patrons who like Grafton or Davidson. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cold Tuscan Stone is a good set-up for Wagner's series. Montoya is a smart, likable main character-- and so is Italy. The cobbled streets of Volterra, Tuscany come to life under the author's pen as do the mouthwatering descriptions of food and the sharp insights into the Italian national character.I've always enjoyed mysteries concerning art history, and the one here is good, but by book's end I felt that it was a bit lightweight. The foundation is good. All Wagner has to do is keep on building with quality materials, and he'll construct a really winning series. I look forward to that.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Rick Montoya, an Italian-American with dual nationality, is a translator living in Rome. When a friend in the Cultural Ministry drafts him to help the Art Squad stop trafficking in antiquities, Rick travels to Volterra in Tuscany as himself with a side job of searching for 'good' buys for a gallery back home in Santa Fe.Rick's venture is surprisingly successful, yet he never realizes he's being tailed from the moment he enters the town. Lot's of atmosphere and tantalizing food.