The Bitter Taste of Murder

Tuscan Mysteries, Book 2

By: Camilla Trinchieri

Narrated by: Danny Deferrari

Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

The follow-up to Murder in Chianti finds ex-NYPD detective Nico Doyle recruited by Italian authorities to investigate the murder of a prominent wine critic.

One year after moving to his late wife’s Tuscan hometown of Gravigna, Nico Doyle has fully settled into life there, seeing friends in the course of daily errands and helping to serve and test recipes at his in-laws’ restaurant.

But the town is shaken by the arrival of wine critic Michele Mantelli in his flashy Jaguar. Mantelli holds his influential culinary magazine and blog over Gravigna’s vintners and restaurateurs (and, to Maresciallo Perillo’s dismay, the traffic laws). He has either impressed or ticked off most of ravigna’s residents - but most of all Nico’s landlord, Aldo Ferri, whose vineyard Mantelli seems intent on ruining.

Mantelli’s lavish, larger-than-life, and often vindictive personality has made him many enemies, and when he is poisoned, Perillo has a headache of a high-profile murder on his hands - and once again turns to Nico for help.

©2021 Camilla Trinchieri (P)2021 Recorded Books

Loved it!

Jun 19, 2021

it was amazing
bookshelves: law-enforcement, murder, murder-investigation, Italy, family, family-dynamics, friendship, relationship-issues, relationships, relatives, muted-humor, small-business, small-town, restaurant, dog, cultural-exploration, procedural*****

A widowed ex-NYPD homicide detective (Nico) moves to Tuscany where he has good memories and his wife's family (and they need his help in the restaurant). Remember the adage about taking the man out of the job? He got to be friends with the local Carabinieri (Perillo and Daniele) last year over a murder and has made many other friends as well (and a dog, OneWag).
The wine critic was a real rotter. When he was found dead in a car wreck it looked like an accident until the ME had a good look. There was no lack of suspects and the locals and friend expected to work it out. THEN they were told that a detective from another branch of law enforcement was to have the case. Not a happy thought. Expect plot twists, beautiful countrysides, red herrings, and mouth watering menus. EXCELLENT read! Proof that books in series get better as they go along.
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Soho Press/Soho Crime via NetGalley. Thank you!
12/26/2022 And now I have the audio to keep!

Disappointing second installment

Really liked the first in this series but just couldn’t get into this one. My mind kept wandering and it took an effort to return my attention. I also found the characters hard to keep track of and the narrator on this one missed the mark. Fine, but a bit of a let down overall.

Excellent Book & an enjoyable listen

The difference between a good mystery novel and a great one is the story interwoven with the mystery. The mystery is very good. The story and characters are great! The narrator is a little better than “OK.” Listening to the story is entertaining, interesting, and enjoyable.

Engaging story, characters, and locale!

I am enjoying this series!
Engaging characters and cultural immersion
I hope there are more to come!

The Story was pretty good.

The problem was that it was difficult to distinguish the voices of the different characters.
I enjoyed the descriptions of the landscapes and the different kinds of regional Italian foods.

Bizarre choice of a narrator

Why choose someone who doesn’t know how to pronounce Italian words reliably to narrate a book that requires such a skill?? The narrator was ok, though generally lackluster and quite lacking in inflection/emotion/character voice differences. The bizarre thing was that he clearly does have some of the basics of Italian pronunciation down, but mispronounced some words so badly it makes one wonder. How many times was “maresciallo” mispronounced in this book?? Not to mention the author’s own last name!!! And yet, he said some words perfectly. Very puzzling, but whoever chose this narrator did a very poor job.

Good story, poor narration

An otherwise well written novel, was undercut by a reader with only one voice. I say reader rather than voice actor because a voice actor would have put more life into it. Mr. Deferrari did nothing to differentiate the characters. The male characters all sounded alike and the female characters sounded like the men.

A taste of Tuscany

We liked the story and the characters. But the reader of the first book was much better.

Narrator spoiled the book for me

The terrible pronunciation of Italian by the narrator was simply painful. Others have commented on this, and I wish I had read their reviews or paid better attention to the narrator’s name before purchasing the book. You need someone who can pronounce the basic Italian greeting of Salve and the title of the maresciallo of the carabinieri, who is referred to frequently by that title. I doubt I will purchase any more of this author’s audio books unless there is a change of narrator

Good story, not so good narration.

The narrator spoke in an odd monotone, speeding up and dropping his voice at the end of sentences almost dismissively. He did Italian pronunciation well, but it was often hard to know who was speaking - they all sounded the same. The book deserved better.