Review: The Dead Season by Christobel Kent

A Mysterious Review of …

The Dead Season by Christobel Kent. A Sandro Cellini Mystery.

Review summary: There is a large cast of interesting characters in this murder mystery, led by the strongly developed PI Sandro Cellini. The setting is colorful in spite of the Florence heat, there are touches of humor here and there to balance the frustration felt by everyone involved, and the is cleverly devised and plays out in a satisfactory manner. (Click here for text of full review.)

Our rating:

The Dead Season
Christobel Kent
A Sandro Cellini Mystery
Pegasus Books (September 2012)

Publisher synopsis: Every August, Florence shimmers in the summer heat. But this year the heatwave is fiercer than usual, and the city's inhabitants have fled to the cool of the hills and beaches of the surrounding countryside. So it is no surprise that amidst the shrubbery of a normally busy roundabout, a corpse lies unnoticed, bloating in the humid air.

Sandro Cellini will not be joining the crowds of holidaymakers this year. The former policeman turned private detective has a case: a man who seems to have vanished into thin air — leaving his pregnant young wife alone in the city. Meanwhile, bank teller Roxana Delfino is also stuck in the city for the season, with nothing to do but worry for her aging mother and puzzle over the disappearance of one her regular clients.

As all Florence sweats it out, Cellini attempts as best he can to grapple with his case and the complications it throws up. And when the weather finally breaks, it brings with it a shocking revelation …