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Death in the Dolomites: A Rick Montoya Italian Mystery    by David Wagner Amazon.com order for
Death in the Dolomites
by David Wagner
Order:  USA  Can
Poisoned Pen, 2014 (2014)
Hardcover, Softcover, e-Book
* * *   Reviewed by Mary Ann Smyth

Death in the Dolomites by David P. Wagner is a thoroughly enjoyable book for a number of reasons. There is a murder. Okay, mysteries generally have at least one murder. However, the disposal of the dead body tops the list for ingenuity.

Campiglio, a small ski resort town in the Dolomites in northern Italy is the kind of town where anyone would love to spend a week. Not just skiing, but enjoying the magnificent scenery and the feel of a town where everyone knows everyone else - which makes the vacationer feel at home. Where one can walk at night and not feel threatened by the dark.

The descriptions of food available in the town's restaurants had me literally drooling. I love Italian food, but haven't had as much Northern Italian cooking as I would like. Would go there just for the food alone.

Now to the mystery – Rick Montoya has joined his friend Flavio in Campiglio for a week of skiing, taking a break from the translation business he owns and runs in Rome. After the body that had been devilishly hidden turns up, he is called upon to aid the local constabulary translate when an English speaking person must be interviewed.

Rick becomes enmeshed in the investigation of the murder; his translation skills are needed. As in the author's first book, Cold Tuscan Stone, Death in the Dolomites keeps your attention from the first page to the last. Plenty of action and lots of persons of interest to keep you guessing.

Rick's mastery of the Italian language (his mother is Italian) pulls him deeper and deeper into the investigation, possibly to his own peril. Good book. Excellent writing and characters you'd like to meet. I'm looking forward to the next in this great series.

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