Roman Count Down

Rick Montoya Italian Mysteries, Book 6

By: David P. Wagner

Narrated by: David Colacci

Rick Montoya, eager to experience more of his Italian mother's culture, heads to Rome to start his own translation business. He's armed with curiosity and an appetite for local food and wine.

Rick's maternal uncle is a Roman cop with one eye to his nephew's welfare and another to how Rick might be useful, perhaps widen his career choices. So Commissario Piero Fontana pulls Rick into an investigation: the murder of Count Umberto Zimbardi.

The wealthy count enjoyed indulging a circle of convivial friends and a hobby collecting oral histories by interviewing residents in the city's centro storico. After heading home from such an afternoon, he was found dead on a bridge over the Tiber.

As a newcomer and an investigator, Rick makes rookie mistakes. He's learning the ropes as an amateur sleuth and that living in Rome is different from visiting. Plus he's distracted by a woman pressing him into service as an Italy tour guide and the arrival of a college friend on a mission to sell Argentine wine to the Vatican. But there's a dangerous countdown at play, and Rick needs to solve the case before the unthinkable happens.

©2019 David P. Wagner (P)2019 Tantor Media

Book 6? This is Really Book 1

This is the story of how the main character, Rick Montoya came to live in Rome. I was waiting for the moment when the reader realized that this was a flashback, but no, it is the "first installment". Why is this book in position 6? It would be different if the author set this up as a prequel, "How Rick Got to Rome". But no, it is truly the first book. So for me, having been through books 1-5 Audible and Kindle (where Audible recordings are not available), this story was boring. I already know all about many of the characters mentioned, I know Rick's quirks. I know he's from New Mexico and wears cowboy boots, etc.,. It would have been a good story if this was my introduction to the characters and the setting. If book 7 (which I just bought with one of my credits) Turns out to be "Book 2", I think I'll cry.