Review: A mature romance and mystery - Italian living in America protagonist - Can't-put-it-down-book
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 28, 2014
Murder Under the Italian Moon (also published as Gemini Moon) is the first book in the Lella York Mysteries series. Lella, short for Donatella, is Italian-born but has lived in The States for twenty-five years with her American husband Nick, until his death four years earlier.  Despite her many years in the U.S., Lella is all Italian-woman-of-a-certain-age, adding a very Italian flavor to this story.The beginning of the book, in Florence, Italy, is very evocative, with wonderfully accurate descriptions of Florence around the Ponte Vecchio, the Old Bridge.  The story then moves to Southern California, where the setting is just as convincingly conveyed.Lella, the protagonist, recounts in a first person narrative the story along with flashbacks to her life with and without her husband, Nick.  Lella is a woman who has been a rather passive passenger on life's journey up to this point in her life.I felt frustration, at times, at Lella's passivity, but then I realized that it is precisely that passivity that is key to the events happening.  It is also what Lella learns about herself, and tries to change.Lella's Italian upbringing is a major force in her dealings with her husband, friends, son, and the police and lawyers.  They find her puzzling, endearing, awkward, emotional, passionate and moody, but they also feel protective of her.  She may have lived in the U.S. for twenty-five years, but she is still a fish-out-of-water in so many ways, even seeming ditzy at times.  You can take the woman out of Italy, but you can't take Italy out of the woman!Murder Under the Italian Moon is suspenseful, well-written, well-edited, and it builds very nicely, and very quickly since the book is about 185 pages long.  I found the book to be a smooth, compulsive, can't-put-it-down kind of read, almost like a dream/nightmare that won't stop.  The writing pulls you forward.Read my full review at Italophile Book Reviewshttp://italophilebookreviews.blogspot.nl/2014/03/murder-under-italian-moon-by-maria.html