When Italy’s greatest opera singer, Rodolfo Argento, is killed in a terrible car accident, the police initially rule his death a tragic accident or suicide. But his elderly mother, Violetta, believes this to be poppycock! Her son was a brilliant driver and had too much to live for. She suspects foul play and turns to Private Investigator, Dan Armstrong to discover the truth.
A cheating spouse?
So Dan and Oscar travel to Verona, the city of Romeo and Juliet, to find out what really happened. There Dan discovers Rodolfo’s private life could have come straight out of a Shakespeare play. Although now happily married, Rodolfo was a man with a reputation to rival Casanova, his past strewn with heartbroken women. Could his death have been a star-crossed lover determined to get revenge?
A family feud?
Or does the truth lie much closer to home? With his large inheritance still to be settled, the motive for Rodolfo’s murder could simply be greed. As Dan searches for suspects while staying at the Argento Opera Academy (where people randomly launch into operatic arias.) life for Dan is complicated by the fact that Oscar has a habit of joining in with the singing…
Can Dan solve the case before he and his tone-deaf dog get thrown out? (Synopsis courtesy of Goodreads.)
The Armstrong and Oscar Cozy Mysteries series is such a fun series to read. Every book has a winning formula that combines an amazing backdrop of scenery, with an adorable sidekick dog, and a private detective who will stop at nothing to find the answer, even if it means putting his own safety at risk! Murder in Verona is an excellent addition to this series, particularly because the list of possible suspects is a mile long, and we get to witness through Dan’s eyes the various formulaic possibilities and conclusions he comes up with, in order to solve the mystery of the opera singer’s untimely demise.
I had my own suspicions as to what had happened and the person responsible. And I can tell you, I wasn’t right in my assumptions, which makes for a really great mystery read. If it were too easy to deduce who the culprit is, the experience would fall flat, and that isn’t the case here. Through every interrogation and interview, I kept my own list of possible suspects, too, comparing my own thoughts with the ones that Dan has, but with subtle twists and turns. My original suspects would often change depending on new evidence.
The characters within Murder in Verona were well created and had incredible backstories, making it even more difficult to figure out what had really happened to Rodolfo. From his mother, Violetta, to a man who is literally named Romeo, and everyone in between–no one is off limits, not until there is concrete evidence that proves the innocence of that person. The most obvious choices are the ones that are far from guilty, and the characters who seem the most tame with no reasons to see Rodolfo dead, are the ones who become the most suspicious. Even the motive, which would seem the most prominent considering the type of man who Rodolfo had been in his past, turns everything on its head. What’s the true reason behind the crime? The eventual truth is shocking.
It appears with every book in the series, the stakes are raised even higher, which makes for an exciting read, and it was great to see the dynamic duo of Dan and Oscar together again, solving crimes and murder mysteries! It was a definite five-star experience for me!
Thanks to Rachel's Random Resources for the book in exchange for an honest review.
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I've written all sorts: thrillers, historical novels, short stories and now I'm enjoying myself hugely writing romance and whodunnits. Romantic comedies are what we all need from time to time. Life isn’t always very fair. It isn’t always a lot of fun, but when it is, we need to embrace it. Murder mystery is all very well, but it needs to put a smile on your face, so that's why I like to inject some humour.
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