The Body in the Piazza: A Faith Fairchild Mystery (Faith Fairchild Mysteries)
Most of Page&#x2019;s 20 Faith Fairchild mysteries have taken place in the small Massachusetts town where she has a catering business, but this time she&#x2019;s enjoying the sun-drenched Tuscan hills. Faith and her husband, Reverend Tom, are in Italy to celebrate an anniversary and attend a weeklong cooking seminar at the home of an old friend, who has opened a tourist culinary school. The couple&#x2019;s first night is in Rome, where they meet a charismatic travel writer, Freddy, who, unfortunately, is killed before their eyes. Once they are ensconced in the cooking school, it becomes apparent that the reasons for Freddy&#x2019;s murder haven&#x2019;t stayed in Rome and that any one of the other school attendees could have had a hand in the malevolent events. Although there is certainly a mystery here, it gets lost, perhaps happily so, in the book&#x2019;s lush surroundings as well as in the flavors of the wine, pasta, and panna cotta that will have readers heading for their nearest Italian restaurant&#x2014;not that it can compare. Perhaps the recipes at the book&#x2019;s conclusion will help. La dolce vita&#x2014;only soured a bit by murder. --Ilene Cooper