Cozy Mystery Book #Review ~ Evil Under the Tuscan Sun (Tuscan Cooking School Mystery #3) by Stephanie Cole #CozyMystery @BerkleyMystery @BerkleyPub

Nell Valenti is at ease when managing a farm to table cooking school in sun-dappled Tuscany, but begins to feel the heat when tasked with catching a killer, in this engaging Italian-set cozy mystery series.

When a wealthy New York philanthropist pays top dollar for a private, four-day ziti workshop, Nell Valenti wants everyone at the Orlandini cooking school focused on the task at hand. But complications abound when Nell's boyfriend Pete Orlandini rushes to Rome for an unexpected business trip, Chef Orlandini is more preoccupied with a potential spot on an American cooking show than preparing for the workshop, and an uninvited woman sneaks into the villa to inspect Pete's olive grove. The last disturbance proves deadly, and when the woman's body is found in the grove, Nell must investigate before her hopes for the workshop, like the olives, are crushed.

Nell now has another item on her checklist--keep the Orlandinis out of trouble and the wealthy ziti-lovers happy while she looks into the stranger's past. When Nell discovers that for one of the Orlandinis, at least, the murder victim was not such a stranger after all, she'll learn that when a detective goes digging in Italy, she'd better be ready for truffle.

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3rteqN2

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57926107-evil-under-the-tuscan-sun

ASIN: ‎ B093YQKMY3
Publisher: ‎ Berkley
Publication Date: ‎ February 1, 2022
Print Length: ‎ 300 pages

My Review and Rating:

Evil Under the Tuscan Sun by Stephanie Cole
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Orlandini Cooking School is off to a bright start. Word has spread and a wealthy New York philanthropist books the school for a ziti workshop. Four days of private pasta and marinara classes with Nell at the helm. Pete is off to Rome on business and Chef is too busy preparing to possibly win a spot on a cooking show. Organizing the workshop takes an interesting turn when strangers appear in Pete’s olive grove, and one of the strangers is found dead on Orlandini property.

Evil Under the Tuscan Sun is the third book in the Tuscan Cooking School Mystery series by Stephanie Cole. The book was an engaging story with likable characters and a believable mystery. Nell is a hard-working American employed at the Orlandini culinary school in Italy. Nell is written with realism and her interactions with everyone fit the way a professional in a less-than-perfect situation would act.

The mysterious death of a woman found on Orlandini property was well thought out. The suspects were plenty, even if unlikely and/or not plausible. The lead up to and reveal of the murderer, along with the means and motive, were plotted well. I enjoyed the additional storylines threaded through the murder mystery.

There was plentiful character development and wonderful world building. I was able to visualize every element of the story including the mouth-watering recipes. I'm excited to see what happens at Villa Orlandini in the next book.

I was provided a copy of this book to read.  

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Book #Review ~ Al Dente's Inferno (Tuscan Cooking School Mystery, Book #1) by Stephanie Cole @BerkleyMystery #Cozy #Mystery

Book Details:

Print Length: 304 pages

Publisher: Berkley 

Publication Date: February 25, 2020

Sold by: Penguin Group (USA) LLC

ASIN: B07TQKN23G

Amazon

About the Book:

An American chef will have to serve up more than good eats if she wants to establish a successful farm-to-table cooking school in Tuscany, in this charming first installment in a new cozy mystery series set in Italy.

When Nell Valenti is offered a chance to move to Tuscany to help transform an aging villa into a farm-to-table cooking school, she eagerly accepts. After all, both her job and her love life in America have been feeling stale. Plus, she'll get the chance to work under the acclaimed Italian Chef Claudio Orlandini.

But Nell gets more than she bargained for when she arrives. With only a day to go until the launch dinner for the cooking school, the villa is in shambles, and Chef O is blissfully oblivious of the work that needs to be done before a group of local dignitaries arrive, along with a filmmaker sent to showcase and advertise the new school. The situation only worsens when Nell discovers that the filmmaker is an ex-boyfriend, and he’s found murdered later that night. Even worse, Chef O has disappeared, and accusations of murder could shut the school down for good.

As tensions reach a boiling point at the villa, Nell must throw her chef's hat into the ring, and investigate the murder herself. Because if she fails to solve the case, her career, or even her life, could be next on the chopping block. 

My Review:

American chef Nell Valenti jumps at the chance to move to Italy and help her idol, Chef Claudio Orlandini open a farm-to-table cooking school. Leaving her stagnating career and disinterested parents, Nell eagerly accepts the job offer. When she arrives, Nell walks into a disaster zone. There is only one day until the kickoff dinner and Villa Orlandini is a wreck. The dinner is hosting several dignitaries and a filmmaker who will be featuring the new school. Making matters worse is the arrival of Nell’s ex, who happens to be the filmmaker, and his subsequent murder later that evening.

Al Dente’s Inferno is book 1 in the Tuscan Cooking School Mystery series by Stephanie Cole. The book was an engaging story with likable characters and a believable mystery. Nell is a hard-working American trying to get a culinary school in Italy off the ground. She’s at a serious disadvantage due to her lack of knowledge and fluency in the native language of Italian. She’s not completely devoid of the language and there are some employees and residents of the Villa that speak English. Nell is written with realism and her interactions with everyone fit the way a professional in a less-than-perfect situation would act.

The mystery surrounding the murder of Nell’s ex was well thought out. The suspects were plenty, even if unlikely and/or not plausible. The lead up to and reveal of the murderer, along with the means and motive, were plotted well. I had a slight inkling of who did it, but I wasn't 100% sure who the culprit was until closer to the reveal. Nell's amateur investigation produced far-fetched theories and her snooping around was borderline illegal, but it didn't detract from my enjoyment.

I found the story interesting and engaging. There was plentiful character development and wonderful world building. I was able to visualize every element of the story including the mouth-watering recipes. I'm excited to see what happens at Villa Orlandini in the next book.

I was provided a copy of this book to read.

My Rating:

#CozyMystery #Review ~ Crime of the Ancient Marinara (Tuscan Cooking School Mystery, Book #2) by Stephanie Cole @BerkleyMystery

 

American chef Nell Valenti's high hopes for a successful Tuscan farm-to-table cooking school are in danger of withering on the vine in this delectable cozy mystery.

Nell Valenti is settling into her role of transforming the Villa Orlandini into a superb farm-to-table cooking school, and the time has finally come for a full taste test run. But when Chef Orlandini prepares to reveal his top secret marinara recipe for the first time to a group of American gastro-tourists, Nell realizes she might have bitten off more than she can chew.

Nell begins to suspect that one of the tourists is actually a private detective sent to spy on her by her overprotective father, and the fussy foodies are noisy and disrespectful from the very start of the Marinara Mysteriosa workshop. Even worse, when one visitor appears to be poisoned by the famous marinara recipe, Nell will have to work fast to uncover a killer and keep a lid on bad press before her fresh start is spoiled for good.

ASIN: B087PLF2V6
Publication date: January 26, 2021
Language: English
Print length: 300 pages

Purchase from Amazon:

https://amzn.to/3tcZxgO

Add to Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53790010-crime-of-the-ancient-marinara

My Review:

The time has come for all of Nell Valenti's hard work to pay off. The inaugural class is due to Villa Orlandini soon, consisting of five American students. During the introductions, Chef Orlandini surprises everyone by indicating he will be revealing his secret marinara sauce to the class, Nell, and everyone else in the household is shocked. Nell also discovers her father sent another private eye to spy on her and is intent on calling her father out. Revealed secret marinara sauces and private eyes become back-burnered, the least of Villa Orlandini's worries, when one of the class members is poisoned. In a group full of suspicious characters, Nell must now figure out what and how the poisoning occurred and who is responsible, before their inaugural class becomes Villa Orlandini's only class.

Crime of the Ancient Marinara was an interesting story with likable characters and a believable mystery. Nell is a hard-working American trying to get a culinary school in Italy off the ground. She takes her job seriously, sometimes too seriously it seems. She's doing her best to learn the language and for only a month in, I think she's doing a fine job. Nell is written with realism and her interactions with everyone fit the way a professional in a less-than-perfect situation would act.

The mystery surrounding the poisoning of one of the attendees was well thought out. The suspects were plenty, even if unlikely and/or not plausible. The lead up to and reveal of the murderer, along with the means and motive, were plotted well and I wasn't sure who the culprit was until closer to the reveal. Nell's amateur investigation produced far-fetched theories and her snooping around was borderline illegal, but it didn't detract from my enjoyment.

The story itself was rather slow-paced and it took me a bit longer to read Crime of the Ancient Marinara that other books I've read lately. I still found the story interesting and engaging, with good character development and wonderful world building. I was able to visualize every element of the story including the mouth-watering recipes. I'm excited to see what happens at Villa Orlandini in the next book.

I was provided a copy of this book to read.

My Rating: