Silence of the Lamps (Caprice de Luca Mysteries) by Karen Rose Smith

The amateur sleuth in this cute cozy mystery series is an Italian-American small business owner, Caprice de Luca.  She stages homes for sale, so the book includes much about furniture and lifestyle, and even recipes and cooking, thanks to Caprice's sister Nicoletta's catering career (third sister, Bella, runs a sewing business).

Book One in the series.
Click the cover to visit the book's Amazon.com page.

Being a cute cozy, along with the light mystery story we get lots of sweet interaction by Caprice with charming and amusing family members, a best girl friend, a desirable chaste boyfriend, and various adorable cats and dogs.  There is the requisite small town setting and conservative values, along with an odd dash of new-age thinking and mantras.

Book Two in the series.
Click the cover to visit the book's Amazon.com page.

The narrative style is the genre's usual 3rd person limited mixed with some 3rd person omniscient at times.  The genre's elements are faithfully followed.  The recipes are clearly made for U.S. American readers, not terribly original, and not all Italian inspired.

Book Three in the series.
Click the cover to visit the book's Amazon.com page.

This cute cozy mystery novel is clean and simple, making it suitable for tweens, teens and adults.  The cute pastel covers of the series' books are cartoonish, showing that the stress is on sweet entertainment rather then the crimes that set Caprice investigating.

Book Four in the series.
Click the cover to visit the book's Amazon.com page.

The books in the Caprice de Luca Mystery Series to date:

1. Staged to Death
2. Deadly Décor
3. Gilt by Association
4. Drape Expectations
5. Silence of the Lamps
6. Shades of Wrath (coming soon)

From the book's description (beware, there are spoilers):

Business has never been better for home stager Caprice De Luca, but her personal life could stand a few renovations.  Just when she thought things were getting serious with her boyfriend Grant, his pretty ex-wife swoops into town and nabs his attention.

Uncle Dom is living with her parents and desperately needs a new job.  And her sister Nikki's catering business is threatened when rival Drew Pierson starts eating away at her share of the market.  Things could not possibly get more chaotic when Drew is found bludgeoned to death by one of his grandmother's antique Tiffany lamps--and Nikki is the number one suspect.

Now, Caprice must act fast to illuminate the truth and clear her sister's name--before a cold-blooded killer puts her lights out next…

Here is a direct link to the book at Amazon.com:

Please visit the author's website.

Cappuccinos, Cupcakes, and a Corpse (Cape Bay Cafe Mystery)

This is the first book in a cozy mystery series that features an Italian-American woman named Francesca Amaro.  Francesca is a third generation American, having grown up in a small coastal town in the US state of Massachusetts, and later worked in New York City.  She returns to the small town after her mother's passing, to take over the family business, an Italian café.

Part of the plot of the first book in the series relates to how Francesca overcomes her grief.  She is quickly joined in the grieving process by an old friend, Matt, who loses his father in mysterious circumstances.  Matt and Francesca join forces to find out what happened to the father, and to deal with the grief and the uncertainty about how to live their lives from that point forward.  All that loss makes the start to this cozy series not as light and humorous as other cute cozy mystery series.

The books in the Cape Bay Café Mystery Series to date are:

1. Cappuccinos, Cupcakes, and a Corpse
2. Tea, Tiramisu, and Tough Guys
3. Margaritas, Marzipan and Murder

Cozy conventions are followed in the book, with the amateur sleuth having a link to the deceased (actually, she finds the deceased too), then she pursues the investigation for a good-hearted reason, tripping over the police as she investigates in the closed community for the killer in their midst.  She may protest about her new role, but Francesca actually loves the distraction.

I was a former public relations manager turned café owner and artisan barista, not a detective.

The third-person limited perspective keeps us in Francesca's mind throughout the story.  The book has much about friendship, with Francesca learning to accept the affection offered by the good-hearted small town residents.  She slowly begins to recreate her life, bit by bit, with a new home, new friends, a new pet, and a new life in a tourist area owning and working in a tourist business.  The process continues over the rest of the books in the series.

There is a light love interest, too, for Francesca, which is in line with the genre, and it is chaste, as is the convention with cute cozies, verses the traditional cozy mysteries which allow for more realistic sexual relationships.  Put a stray dog in the mix, and you have a cute cozy that is suitable for tweens and teens as well as adults.  The covers are very cute too.

Book Two in the Series

The writing is at a simple, clear level, but there are still too many typos and verb errors in the text.  Hopefully they will be edited out soon.  And the two recipes that are included at the end of the book (there are two recipes at the end of each book in the series) are not particularly Italian, with the first one missing some instructions, which means not all the ingredients are actually mixed together! 

Those quibbles aside, the book and the series is light reading with a hint of Italian, for Italophile fans of cute cozies.

Book Three in the Series

From the book's description:

From USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR Harper Lin: a new cozy mystery series with recipes!

Francesca Amaro moves back to her hometown of Cape Bay, Massachusetts, and takes over the family business, Antonia’s Italian Café. She spends her days making delicious artisan cappuccinos, until she stumbles upon her neighbor’s dead body. When the police discover Mr. Cardosi was poisoned, Francesca becomes a suspect.

The victim’s son, Matty, happens to be Francesca’s old high school friend. Together, they uncover the secrets of the locals in order to find the killer in their idyllic beach town.

Includes two special cupcake recipes!

Here is a direct link to the book at Amazon.com (where the e-book version is often offered for FREE):

Please visit the author's website.

A Treacherous Treasure (Mooseamuck Cozy Mystery) by Leighann Dobbs

Dominic Benedetti and Claire Watkins are the two police consultants who've retired to Maine's Mooseamuck Island in this cozy mystery series.  Book three in the series has the mature duo embark on an investigation into a very old murder mystery that is linked to pirate treasure.  It also is linked to an old friend of Claire's, which pushes her to investigate further, with Dom's help.

Italian-American Dom Benedetti, and the Italian-American police detective, Zambuco, who sometimes allows the retired duo to help with a case, add some Italophile flavor to the stories.  Dom, especially, is very fond of Italian pastries which he uses to numb the pain of the loss of his beloved wife.  Claire aims for a healthier lifestyle.

Book One

The mystery story begins right away with the discovery of a body.  The book follows the cozy genre norm of clues, suspects, theorizing, another murder, and the resolution that involves some danger for our amateur detectives and their loved ones.

The author is very good about bringing readers up-to-date on the regular cast of characters, the setting, and events from the previous two books in the series.  I would suggest reading the books in order.

The books in the series are:

1. A Zen for Murder (reviewed on this site)
2. A Crabby Killer
3. A Treacherous Treasure

Book Two

Quiet Mooseamuck Island is at times too quiet for Dom and Claire, so the crimes that occur liven up their retirement considerably.  While the police detective doesn't usually invite them to consult on investigations, the duo often use the poor man as an excuse for getting involved.

...you know what can happen with Zambuco.  He's liable to incarcerate the wrong person!

A cat and pet canaries keep the retirees company, and even seem to contribute to conversations at time.  That's just part of the light note the author likes to keep for this very cozy cozy-mystery. 

The writing is clear, direct, not difficult, and all the loose ends are wrapped up nicely at the end, including a clear explanation of the case.  The setting is picturesque, and the there are some lovely descriptions of the views and homes.  This book, and the whole series, is pleasant, clean, easy-reading, relaxing fun.

From the book's description:

Rumor has it that Captain Kidd buried treasure on Mooseamuck Island. But when an old pirate chest is unearthed, the contents reveal a deadly surprise that plunges the island into the middle of a sixty year old murder mystery.

With fingers pointing at several of our favorite Islanders, Dom and Claire must team up once again to get to the bottom of things. A twisty path of suspects and clues, brings them to the horrifying realization that one of their closest friends may be involved.

When another murder strikes fear into the hearts of the Islander's, Dom and Claire team up with an unlikely ally in order to save the island from a dangerous killer who thinks they can get away with murder.

Here is a direct link to the book at Amazon.com:

Please visit the author's website.

A Room with a Pew (Lucille Mystery) by Peg Cochran

Book four in the Lucille Mystery Series continues with the laughs in this cute cozy series that features a mature Italian-American woman and her extended family and friends.  Lucille follows in the footsteps of her namesake, Lucille Ball, and teams up with her Ethel, best buddy Flo, to get into all sorts of crazy adventures, all with the goal of solving a murder mystery.

The folksy narrative voice is from Lucille's perspective (3rd person limited narration), and the humor comes mainly from her sarcastic tone, silent prayers to saints, eternal dieting attempts, and a penchant for stealing vehicles of all shapes and sizes.  Don't take any of it seriously, despite the author putting in one medical problem, here and there, specific to mature readers.

 Book One

This is book four in the Lucille Mystery Series.  Here are all the books to date in the series:

1. Confession is Murder
2. Unholy Matrimony
3. Hit and Nun (Reviewed on this site)
   
4. A Room with a Pew

Book Two

A Room with a Pew (the title is cute but it has very little to do with the story) begins on Thanksgiving day with Lucille catering the holiday dinner for her family and friends.  Lucille is proud of her ability to handle the busy holiday:

...she may not be one of them executive types she read about in magazines all the time who wear pantsuits to work and order their lunch from fancy restaurants, but she knew how to roast a turkey and she knew how to care for her family.

Book Three

She is also proud of her ability to sort out criminals and crimes, despite always landing in a heap of trouble with her friend Flo.  The bad guys in this book are particularly bad, and the ladies have some very close scrapes to escape from.  There are family problems to deal with along the way, of course, in her working class family.

The series is a light read not just because of the humor.  The writing is kept simple with lots of dialog and minimal description.  There is a regular cast of characters, but the author is very good at bringing the reader up to speed on them, in case you haven't read the other books in the series, or you've read them a long while ago.

The author's other cute cozy mystery series - Gourmet De-Lite

From the book's description, A Room with a Pew:

Lucille Mazzarella is back, and this time she’s investigating the murder of her own poor cousin Louis. Tracking down a killer might lead the fifty-something housewife into the clutches of a Godfather she never wanted to meet.

When Lucille discovers the body of her cousin Louis in the church parking lot, her first thought is that he may have skipped one service too many, but when the cops shock her with the news that Louis was killed by a professional hit man, she realizes the Almighty had nothing to do with the deed.

Even more shocking is the discovery that the victim, who never had a penny to his name, had socked away a huge wad of cash. As Lucille and her best friend Flo follow the money trail, it leads them from a seedy strip joint to a high-stakes gambling ring and all the way to the mob.

As the thugs close in and threaten to end Lucille’s detecting days for good, she’s tempted to give in to the most dangerous crooks she’s ever faced, but then she remembers she’s got a little family thing of her own that means more.

Here is a direct link to the book at Amazon.com

Please visit the author's website.  Follow the author on Facebook.

Words Can Kill (Ghostwriter Mystery Series) C.A. Larmer

The protagonist of the cozy mystery series Ghostwriter Mysteries is Roxy.  She authors books for other people, leaving her name off the cover, and leaving the fame to the name author, in exchange for a comfortable living.  Unfortunately adventure and mystery stalks mild-mannered wordsmith Roxy Parker, who is:

...the first to suspect foulplay in any situation.

Luckily Roxy is also an investigative journalist, so she is well-equipped to track down the truths and to resolve the mysteries.  Most of her stories occur in her native Australia, peppering the books in the series with wonderfully entertaining Aussie-isms (for non-Australians), dry humor, and stunning scenery.  However, book 5 in the series takes Roxy to the Italian Riviera for some equally stunning scenery.  

The author explains the change in scenery for Roxy:

My husband and I took our boys to Europe in 2013 and the Cinque Terre was one of our most cherished destinations.  We stayed in the heart of Riomaggiore for four days and loved every minute of it. While there I decided I just had to bring my protagonist Roxy Parker back.  It's such a magical place and I knew it would lend itself to a vibrant and colourful mystery.

Roxy's mystery is not just vibrant and colorful, it is mysterious and life-threatening for someone very close to her.  TIP:  Avoid the book's description if you want enjoy Words Can Kill to its fullest.  Paired with Caroline, a compatriot who is the complete opposite of Roxy, there are laughs and conflicts that lead both women to grow and groan along the way to resolving the mystery.

Along with the cozy fun, we get an accurate depiction of a ghostwriter's precarious career.  Part of the entertainment of this cozy series is that Roxy gets to change her scenery and associates quite often, at least with every new writing contract.  That keeps the stories fresh, and saves the population of her hometown from massacre, unlike the unlucky inhabitants of Jessica Fletcher's Cabot Cove (reference: TV's Murder She Wrote).

The books in the Ghostwriter Mystery Series to date are:

1. Killer Twist
2. A Plot to Die For
3. Last Writes
4. Dying Words
5. Words Can Kill
6. A Note Before Dying

The books are well-written, well-edited, and presented stylishly with eye-catching covers.  Each book can be read as a standalone book, but to understand the recurring characters' relationships it would be best to read the books in order.  The cozy elements are all there, including a possible love interest for Roxy, whose mother has decided:

You're destined for spinsterhood...

Be ready for some real pain and danger for Roxy's loved ones in Words Can Kill, in which the amateur sleuth's emotions are put through a wringer.  But trust that Roxy's dogged determination wins out in the end. 

The Italian scenery and characters enrich the book for any Italophile; two thirds of the book takes place in Italy.  We get good and bad guy Italians, an exciting finish, and a meaty Epilog in which all the loose ends are wrapped up for the reader.

From the book's description (spoilers):

WORDS CAN KILL is the fifth stand-alone mystery in the popular amateur women sleuths series featuring sassy ghostwriter Roxy Parker.

Fasten your seatbelts for a cozy mystery ride through Europe — but remember, this ain't no holiday.

Hunky photographer Max Farrell has just vanished into thin air, his last sighting in the arms of a blonde floozy at a Swiss mountain resort.  Max’s estranged girlfriend Roxy Parker pretends she doesn’t care but when his flatmate shows up murdered, bludgeoned by his own guitar, and then the floozy takes a dive off a cliff on the Italian Riviera, she must face the truth at last—Max’s life is hanging in the balance and she is his only hope.

Where is Max?
Who killed his Berlin flatmate?
And what the hell was he doing with that blonde in the first place!

In the latest Ghostwriter Mystery (each one a stand-alone story in itself), Roxy Parker packs her designer luggage and heads to Europe on a quest to find the man she wishes she didn’t love.  With his uber-trendy, self-absorbed sister, Caroline, by her side, Roxy must follow a series of tantalising clues that take them from the heights of Mt. Pilatus to the azure Mediterranean Sea encountering brash German police, secretive Swiss soldiers, and an Italian lothario to die for.

Here are direct links to all the books in the series at Amazon.com:

Please visit the author's website and blog.

This review is by Candida Martinelli, of Candida Martinelli's Italophile Site, and the author of the cozy-murder-mystery novel AN EXTRA VIRGIN PRESSING MURDER, and the young-adult/adult mystery novel series THE VIOLET STRANGE MYSTERIES the first book of which is VIOLET'S PROBLEM.

Edited Out (Murder in Boston Series) by Cynthia Westland

Italian-American Carla Ferrari, a former police officer, the daughter of a police officer, is a private investigator in Boston, in the U.S, in Edited Out, Book Two in the Murder in Boston Series.  She has the P.I.'s requisite quirky, mouthy receptionist.  She also has a close-knit Italian-American family, and a hunky on-again-off-again boyfriend.  There is a growing genre of book that has all these elements, providing an ethnically flavored crime-romance-comedy for fans.

Carla could easily be a male character considering all the tropes surrounding her. 

She has:  "...an obsession for justice that made law enforcement her only source of fulfillment."

And she has a very cool car:  "a 1953 silver Alfa Romeo Disco Volante"

And a dog name Como, after the crooner Perry Como. 

But she is described as:  "...the gorgeous blonde with long legs and a body like a Playboy pin-up..."

The humor in Edited Out comes mostly from the characters of Carla's mother and Carla's sassy, stupid yet loyal receptionist.  Lots of Italian words and culture and food fly about those two characters, and among the families and the Italian community.  Some people might consider the characters stereotypical, others might find them realistic, but they are flat characters, mainly there to provide some lightness to the story.

Carla's overprotective and intrusive Italian-born mother has the juiciest dialog in the book:

You know, Carla, Cousin Joe still has a job waiting for you at the mortadella factory.  All you got to do is say the word, and you can get a job like normal people.

And Carla's relationship with her mother provides some tension in the story:

She'd rather explain to the Pope why she didn't go to mass for ten years, than explain to her mother why she wasn't going to be able to make dinner...

The one element that seemed out of place is the vulgarity in the Italian-born mother's speech:  she calls men "hanging provolone".  Inexplicably, Italian mom hasn't taught her daughter that "cannoli" is plural, and "cannolo" is the singular for the dessert.

There is a grittiness to the story, too, with death, widows, cops, and dark Boston settings, not to mention the main character's grief about her breakup with Nick Calvi, a homicide detective.

Carla knelt down to see the remains of a once vibrant young man, someone who lived, loved and then died on a cool, spring night in Boston.

At its best moments, the writing is reminiscent of Elmore Leonard or Robert B. Parker or Raymond Chandler.  Imagine a depressive Humphrey Bogart, with his wiseacre receptionist, and the crying female client who walks into the office.  Set them all in Boston, and lace the dialog with Boston slang.  But don't forget that Humphrey is a woman in this P.I. series.

The writing is not always consistent, however, seemingly a blend of the Noir P.I. style and the cozy murder mystery style with the narration in 3rd person limited.  The details of the criminal case become swamped by the cozy fun, and Carla's work is not always as sharp as one would expect from a former policewoman. 

But if you enjoy an Italian-flavored cozy mystery with a kick-ass female protagonist, then you might enjoy Edited Out and the Murder in Boston Series.  

Oh, I can't forget to mention that this book has a contender for the worst sex scene in a novel, not explicit, but certainly dressed with the oddest dialog, which I can only hope is an attempt at humor by the author:

Love me, Nick.  Love me like bread.  Tear me to shreds and consume me.

Buon appetito!

From the book's description:

When writer Dennis Carson buys a gun and goes missing, his wife Laura hires P.I. Carla Ferrari to investigate.  After Dennis turns up dead in Boston Harbor, Detective Nick Calvi of the Boston PD joins his ex-lover Carla on the case.  What was Dennis Carson working on and what did he discover that marked him for death?  From the author of Al Dente: a Murder in Boston, and the Silent Chanteuse, Cynthia Westland brings you her latest murder mystery; Edited Out.

Book One in the series is Al Dente: A Murder in Boston.

In this book, the reader becomes part of the story as Private Investigator Carla Ferrari and Boston Police Detective Nick Calvi uncover a series of clues to solve three twisted, diabolical murders. During their search for the killer, Nick and Carla reignite an old romance that's been smoldering just beneath the surface. Three wealthy women, all in good health are designated by the medical examiner as 'cause of death undetermined.' Every step that sends Carla and Nick into the dangerous world of a serial killer moves them closer to their personal destinies. Unmask the killer and solve the mystery of the three dead women and choose the ending to the story.

 Here are direct links to the two books in the series so far, at Amazon.com:

This review is by Candida Martinelli, of Candida Martinelli's Italophile Site, and the author of the cozy-murder-mystery novel AN EXTRA VIRGIN PRESSING MURDER, and the young-adult/adult mystery novel series THE VIOLET STRANGE MYSTERIES the first book of which is VIOLET'S PROBLEM.

Cooking Spirits (Angie Amalfi Mystery) by Joanne Pence

Cooking Spirits is the latest, or perhaps the last, book in the Angie Amalfi Mystery Series; it is not clear which.  Because the story seemed to be making a happy end of many long running threads in the series, such as Angie's search for a career and for married love, I assumed it was a late addition to the series, six years after the previous book, to give the fans an ending for their beloved character.  But then the closure didn't arrive.

Spoiled, Italian-American Angie Amalfi has 14 books in which she tries and fails in a career, struggles to find a secure mate but seems to fail, gets involved in a mystery and with much help solves it.  For fans of cozy mysteries featuring an Italian-American amateur detective, that's a lot of books of fun, relaxing reading to look forward to!

Her inability to create a rewarding career for herself was one of the banes of her life.

The books in the series are:

1. Something's Cooking
2. Too Many cooks
3. Cooking up Trouble
4. Cooking Most Deadly
5. Cook's Night Out
6. Cooks Overboard
7. A Cook in Time
8. To Catch a Cook
9. Bell, Cook, and Candle
10. If Cooks Could Kill
11. Two Cooks a-Killing
12. Courting Disaster
13. Red Hot Murder
14. Da Vinci Cook
15. Cooking Spirits

Angie lives very comfortably in San Francisco, supported by her wealthy property tycoon father.  For most of the books, Angie's love interest is San Francisco Homicide Detective Paavo, and yes, that is his first name.  True to a seemingly universal cozy rule, both Angie and Paavo are drop-dead-gorgeous.  Angie is also a clothes horse.

She is loudly Italian-American, too, as she explains to a prospective wedding-planner:

I'm not a blue person.  I'm Italian!

I'm not really sure what that is supposed to mean, since the Italian football team is know as the Azzuri, the Blues.  But Angie has the requisite big, intrusive family, lots of close relatives, over-protective parents, and an obsession with food.

With all of Angie's skills, and her failure to find a wedding-planner for her big event with Paavo, I thought the author was setting up the big finish of having Angie finally find her ideal career:  Wedding Planner.  But that didn't happen. 

The planning and preparation for the wedding and for their life together takes up about half of the book, but we don't end with the wedding, or with a resolution to the "where are we going to live" question that runs through the whole book, either.  Nor the question about Paavo's emotional loyalties.

15 books is a long time to keep the threads weaving, or the balls up in the air, so to speak, so you can't blame me for expecting a resolution in this late-addition book to the series.  Glancing at some of the reviews, I suspect I'm not the only fan who was looking for closure.  But if you are an Angie fan, it looks like her story will continue.

Cooking Spirits is actually two books wrapped around each other:  Paavo's police procedural case of double homicide, and Angie's house-hunting and wedding problems.  Angie's part of the story involves a paranormal storyline.

There is a strong sense of place in the book, with lots of mentioning of streets, buildings, districts and places.  Many of the characters from the previous books are included in the story.  There are three recipes at the end of the book.  And we are treated to the menu of all of Angie's main meals. 

This is a leisurely paced book, probably of most interest to Angie and Paavo fans.  There is an exciting finish, but not a lot of resolution at the end of the book for Angie and Paavo.  It feels like the author may be planning on continuing the series for a few books more.

From the book's description:

Culinary queen Angie Amalfi has put aside her gourmet utensils to concentrate on planning her upcoming wedding to San Francisco homicide detective Paavo Smith. What could possibly go wrong?

Instead of the answer to her heart's dreams, she scrambles to deal with wedding planners with bizarre ideas, wedding dresses that don't flatter, squabbling relatives with hurt feelings, a long-suffering groom, and worries over where she and Paavo will live after the wedding. But all of that pales when Angie finds the perfect house for them, except for one little problem--the house may be haunted.

Many years ago, the newlyweds who lived in the house were murdered, and the case was never solved. While Angie pursues what happened to the couple who now may be haunting the house, Paavo obsesses over his own case involving the murder of unlikely lovers. The trail leads to ghosts, murders, unhappy families, and enough obnoxious wedding buttinskis to fill a graveyard. But when eerie happenings turn deadly, Angie fears she may be spirited away for good! 

Here is a direct link to the book at Amazon.com, and to the first book in the series:

Please visit the author's website.  

This review is by Candida Martinelli, of Candida Martinelli's Italophile Site, and the author of the cozy-murder-mystery novel AN EXTRA VIRGIN PRESSING MURDER, and the young-adult/adult mystery novel series THE VIOLET STRANGE MYSTERIES the first book of which is VIOLET'S PROBLEM.

Shroud for the Archbishop (Sister Fidelma Series) by Peter Tremayne

Shroud for the Archbishop is book two in the Sister Fidelma historical traditional-mystery series set in Europe's Middle Ages (circa 660-670).  Most of the stories take place in Ireland and England, but this second book in the series brings Sister Fidelma, an Irish investigating-judge and religious woman, to Rome. 

Fidelma comes to medieval Rome not as a pilgrim, which was the main source of Rome's wealth at the time and for many centuries to come, but to receive a papal blessing for her Irish religious order of St. Bridgid.  Also in Rome is her friend and fellow mystery solver Brother Eadulf, a Saxon religious man, and secretary to the Archbishop of Canterbury-elect.

I review on this site a book called Pagan and Christian Rome.  Much of what is described in that book as life in Medieval Rome, is shown in Shroud for the Archbishop.  So if you are a Roman history buff, and you like traditional mysteries (Dorothy L. Sayers, Ngaio Marsh...), then this book will fascinate you.  The author is knowledgeable and likes to share that knowledge. 

The mystery aspect is methodically developed, with all the usual steps:  introduction to scene, introduction to characters and possible suspects, a crime occurs, our protagonist is drafted in to investigate, the body is viewed, suspects are questioned, theories are formed and reformed, events progress often involving more murders and crimes, and finally our detective rounds up everyone and explains everything and exposes the murderer and the convoluted plot. 

That the two main characters are members of religious orders should ring true to those who know their history.  For intelligent, ambitious people in the Middle Ages, the church was the only real avenue for advancement and education.  Religious institutions did not require their members to be celibate, only to be believers and to pray and to contribute to the community, or more accurately, to the commune.  That is how Sister Fidelma and Brother Eadulf can marry in the course of the series and have a child together.

What sort of woman is Fidelma?  Well, let me start by saying she is difficult to like.  She is a 30-something intellectual who is out of touch with her own emotions.  She is prickly, proud, blunt to the point of rudeness, impatient, and vain about her own cleverness.

Her sidekick for most of her investigations is Eadulf, a 30-something, widely educated man whose greatest quality is his ability to put up with Fidelma.  He protects her from harm and acts as her sounding board.  He provides medical knowledge from time to time. 

If this description of Eadulf brings to mind Sherlock Holmes's Dr. Watson, then you get the point.  Except in this incarnation of Holmes and Watson, the two eventually get married and have a family! 

The author is not the smoothest at conveying romantic attraction, and often his two characters seem like sexually and emotionally stunted adults.  They are overly rational, so perhaps that is part of the problem.  Here is Fidelma rationalizing her attraction to Eadulf:

In spite of their differences in attitudes, Fidelma had to admit that she felt some comfort in being with Eadulf.  She could tease him on their contrasting opinions and he would always rise good-naturedly to the bait but there was no enmity between them.

Celtic history comes to the fore in all the books, since Fidelma is an Irish Celt.  Catholic religious debates are shared with the reader too, debates that often tread the same ground as today's religious debates, such as the celibacy of members of religious orders, acceptable sexual mores, and the role of women within the Church.

Shroud for the Archbishop allows the reader to tour Medieval Rome with Fidelma, Eadulf and the others.  See the Lateran Palace, a Christian cemetery and catacomb, the Basilica of St. John of Lateran, the streets, alleys and avenues of Rome, the Tiber.  Meet the pope, bishops, monks, nuns, papal guards, innkeepers, beggars and more of Rome's residents.

The writing style is workable, if stilted and at times repetitive, but that does not detract from what this is, a historical traditional mystery, full of history for buffs, and a twisted plot for mystery fans.  The author uses third-person limited narration letting us into Fidelma's mind, and at times other characters' minds. 

Do not confuse the Sister Fidelma books (25 to date, see list below) with the cute-cozies that are popular today.  Fidelma's story is for mystery traditionalists who know more than a bit about Europe's Middle Ages, and are looking for a work of fiction to bring that time to life.

 

Books in the Sister Fidelma Celtic Mystery Series:

1. Absolution By Murder
2. Shroud for the Archbishop
3. Suffer Little Children
4. The Subtle Serpent
5. The Spider's Web
6. Valley of the Shadow
7. The Monk Who Vanished
8. Act of Mercy
9. Our Lady of Darkness
10. Hemlock At Vespers (short stories)
11. Smoke in the Wind
12. The Haunted Abbot
13. Badger's Moon
14. Whispers of the Dead (short stories)
15. The Leper's Bell
16. Master of Souls
17. A Prayer for the Damned
18. Dancing with Demons
19. Council of the Cursed
20. The Dove of Death
21. The Chalice of Blood
22. Behold A Pale Horse
23. The Seventh Trumpet
24. Atonement Of Blood
25. The Devil's Seal

From the description of Shroud for an Archbishop:

Wighard, archbishop designate of Canterbury, has been discovered garrotted in his chambers in the Lateran Palace in Rome in the autumn of AD 664.  The solution to this terrible crime appears simple as the palace guards have arrested Brother Ronan Ragallach, as he fled from Wighard's chamber.  Although the Irish monk denies responsibility, Bishop Gelasius is convinced the crime is political and that Wighard was slain in pique at the triumph of the pro-Roman Anglo-Saxon clergy in their debate with the pro-Columba Irish clergy at Whitby. 

There is also a matter of missing treasure:  the goodwill gifts Wighad had brought with him to Rome and the priceless chalices sent for the Holy Father Vitalian's blessings have all been stolen.  Bishop Gelasius realises that Wighard's murder could lead to war between the Saxon and Irish kingdoms if Ronan is accused without independent evidence.  So he invites Sister Fidelma of Kildare and Brother Eadulf to investigate.  But more deaths must follow before Fidelma is finally able to put together the strange jigsaw in this tale of evil and vengeance.

The first book in the series is Absolution by Murder:

In A.D. 664, King Oswy of Northumbria has convened a synod at Whitby to hear debate between the Roman and Celtic Christian churches and decide which shall be granted primacy in his kingdom.  At stake is much more than a few disputed points of ritual; Oswy's decision could affect the survival of either church in the Saxon kingdoms.  When the Abbess Etain, a leading speaker for the Celtic church, is found murdered, suspicion falls upon the Roman faction. 

In order to diffuse the tensions that threaten to erupt into civil war, Oswy turns to Sister Fidelma of the Celtic Church (Irish and an advocate for the Brehon Court) and Brother Eadulf of the Roman church (from east Anglia and of a family of hereditary magistrates) to find the killer.  But as further murders occur and a treasonous plot against Oswy matures, Fidelma and Eadulf soon find themselves running out of time.

Here are direct links to the first two book in the Sister Fidelma series at Amazon.com, where many of the books in the series are available for 1-cent (plus shipping) as second-hand mass-market paperbacks:

Please visit the International Sister Fidelma Website for everything you could possible wish to know about the series, author, era and Fidelma herself.

This review is by Candida Martinelli, of Candida Martinelli's Italophile Site, and the author of the cozy-murder-mystery novel AN EXTRA VIRGIN PRESSING MURDER, and the young-adult/adult mystery novel series THE VIOLET STRANGE MYSTERIES the first book of which is VIOLET'S PROBLEM.