Review: A Riveting Murder-Mystery!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 20, 2013
Having been captivated by "Death of a Serpent", it was only natural to follow-up with Susan Russo Anderson's "No More Brothers" a novella that centers around the bloody murder of Ugo, a war hero and brother of Rudolfo, the local shoemaker. Set in the turbulent times of 1867 Italy, Serafina (Fina) Florio, the local midwife and amateur sleuth is assigned the task of finding the murderer; one who not only stabbed his victim but poisoned him first. Needing the money from this assignment to help support a son in medical school and six other children Fina like Sherlock Holmes uses her superior powers of observation and deduction and searches for an answer to the mystery knowing that danger is never far away.I love the characters so vivid and realistic; Serafina, passionate and determined; Dr. Loffredo, the Count of Oltramari, intelligent and ardent in his love for Fina; the calculating and greedy Inspector Colonna; and the fearful and bumbling Rudolfo whose strategy to escape with his family fails.The story is an emotional teeter-totter at times as Fina struggles with her love for Loffredo knowing the price of an adulterous affair in the staid social structure of Palermo. She grapples with the problem of balancing her work and family and resents her children's badgering for her neglect. This is a woman who faces personal issues in the 18th century after the death of her husband that continually disrupt her once well-ordered life.Like all the Serafina Florio novels I like the uniqueness of having a woman detective in a period when women would shun manly roles. The story was new and fresh and just as riveting as the first novel.