A Funeral in Mantova by David P. Wagner

March 05, 2018

If David P. Wagner’s A Funeral in Mantova doesn’t make you yearn for a trip to Italy to eat authentic Italian food, I think there’s something wrong with you. I know that’s not the purpose of Wagner’s latest Rick Montoya Italian mystery,...

Margherita’s Notebook by Flumeri & Giacometti

July 23, 2016

I’m usually not a fan of translations. Quite often, I feel as if something was lost, and the book doesn’t resonate with me. But Margherita’s Notebook by Elisabetta Flumeri and Gabriella Giacometti is translated from the Italian, and it’s...

I Will Have Vengeance by Maurizio de Giovanni

December 19, 2015

Maurizio de Giovanni’s I Will Have Vengeance: The Winter of Commissario Ricciardi, introduces a fascinating detective. And, Anne Milano Appel’s translation captures the spirit of the man, while her closing afterword summarizes historical and opera facts to...

Like Family by Paolo Giordano

December 10, 2015

If Paolo Giordano actually means his characters are Like Family, it’s a sad little family in his latest novel. It’s a novel that leaves readers with more questions than answers. The unnamed narrator and his wife, Nora, have been married ten years. For most...