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 … 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.
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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.
Dollycas’s Thoughts
Plans are coming together at Villa Orlandini to open the farm-to-table cooking school. Their first weeklong class will bring a group of gastro-tourists from America to learn all about making marinara sauce and will include Chef Orlandini revealing his mystery ingredient in his famous marinara recipe. They hit a few bumps in the road with their plans as they work through the logistics of keeping their guests involved and happy. Nell has an inkling that one member of the group is a private detective sent by her father. Another member of the group is rude and is only there because his wife dragged him along. She is excited to be there and is determined not to let her husband ruin her trip. The rest of the group all have their flaws and are pretty disrespectful. When one of the group is rushed to the hospital and dies Nell realizes there is a killer in their midst. A murder is bad, but someone dying the first week they are open could seal the fate of the school forever. Nell knows she needs to find the killer and save the school but she could end up the killer’s next victim if she isn’t careful.
All the people we met at Villa Orlandini in the first book are back. Nell and Pete are getting closer. Chef O. is excited to teach but quickly becomes infatuated with one of his new students which causes some turmoil in the kitchen. The new characters all seem to have something to hide. The murder happens later in the story but the victim was not a surprise. I wanted to reach into the book and kill him myself. The language was still of bit of a problem but Nell is learning more Italian and is finding ways to communicate with people at the villa. It was still necessary to bring in a translator after the murder and Pete translated other times. The translations for us readers still messed with the flow of the story for me.
The murder mystery was very well-plotted and I was surprised with all the connections that were revealed. That being said I had a certain character in my sights almost immediately after the murder because I quickly eliminated the other suspects. I just needed the motive to connect my thinking and that wasn’t revealed until the end. I was a little put off by Nell’s investigation this time. Her snooping and theories were a little over the top at times.
I do enjoy Ms. Cole’s right style. She really knows how to set the scene and bring it to life, Every room at the villa was easily visualized. There was a huge flower delivery too and I could almost smell them from the descriptions. The author delivered up plenty of humor throughout the entire story. The Bari sisters are absolutely priceless.
All the talk of marinara did tempt my tastebuds. Thankfully we eat Italian inspired food often around here.
Crime of the Ancient Marinara was a nice little escape to Tuscany. The characters were entertaining and the mystery very interesting. The ending did leave me wanting to know what was going to happen next at Villa Orlandin, so I am looking forward to the next book in this series.
This delightful second in series is even better than the first! While I have never considered Tuscany a place I would want to see, the author’s descriptions make it sound appealing. Staying outside of the little village of Cortona has been good for Nell, a chef in her own right who now designs cooking schools. Nestled in this gorgeous setting is a former, 500-year-old convent that has been owned for over 40 years by the great Chef Claudio Orlandini. He developed his prima marinara sauce with a secret ingredient, and for the first time in the decades since, says he might open his recipe vault and disclose the secrets at his very first class at Villa Orlandini.
That first class of students is a group of five Americans that includes one married couple. Until renovations are complete, they can have small, cozy classes. The seventy-something chef is ready to make a fool of himself in front of one student, young enough to be his daughter. He set aside Annamaria, his sous chef of 40 years, and invites the young woman to take her place during the four-day intensive class.
Among the first day classes is one that Annamaria teaches, regarding identifying mushrooms, including a very poisonous one that cannot even be touched. She shows how to harvest the ones used for their classes. When the group returns to the kitchen, Annamaria discovers that one of the very sharp knives used by the class has not been given back.
Much later that night, student Bob Gramm, husband of Glynis, is extremely ill and rushed to the hospital, where he later died. The spouse is usually the first suspect, especially when they were overheard the night before having an argument about Bob’s latest girlfriend. One piece of evidence, however, pointed at Annamaria. Bob died from ingesting poisonous mushrooms. While everyone had their hands in the cooking pots that day, evidence is located that leads the police to arrest Annamaria.
She does not want to be on the case, but Nell wants to get Annamaria out of jail. She does not believe the woman, a former nun, would do such a thing. She also wants to save the reputation of the cooking school. Pete, Chef Claudio’s son, has been interested in Nell and she in him. When she tries to help solve the murder and keep the classes moving forward, Pete feels his toes are being stomped on and protests. Maybe it is time for her to go back to the states, nursing a wounded heart.
This novel can be read as a standalone, but one would understand some of the people and backgrounds better if read in order. Every added ingredient to this cozy makes simmers up a perfect result. The characters are a charming mix – well, except for the killer. The setting is great, and Annamaria’s sisters, who are all members of a nearby convent, are a blast! The mystery is tough, and I never fully figured out the solution. There are surprises at the end, and I found it to be satisfying with one small exception but will not spoil it. I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys well-written cozy mysteries, Tuscany, Italian cooking, and quirky characters.
From a thankful heart: I received a complimentary copy of this novel, and this is my honest review.
After a month of hard work, Nell Valenti is ready to oversee the opening of Villa Orlandini as a cooking school lead by the famous Chef Orlandini. In fact, the first group of Americans are arriving at the Tuscany villa in just a couple of days. Nell is hoping that the worst of her problems will be Chef’s broken arm, a bocce ball accident. But then the guests arrive, and they aren’t what Nell is expecting. They seem to be a difficult lot. When one of them is poisoned by Chef’s famous marinara, Nell realizes she has real trouble on her hands. Can she figure out what is going on?
While I did struggle with some things in the first book in the series, I still enjoyed it. Unfortunately, those same issues are present here. The most prominent is Nell’s struggle with Italian. While we always know what is going on, it is presented in such a way that it keeps us out of the story. It’s a shame because I do like the returning characters, and the suspects grow as the story progresses. The mystery takes a while to truly get going, although we are meeting suspects. It’s a shame the pacing isn’t better since there is a good mystery buried in the book. There was a major editing error, as well, that resulted in a character being in two places at once. The book left me craving Italian food, so the recipes at the end are a nice bonus. The first book had its fans, and they will enjoy this entry as well. But if you struggled with the first one, you’ll struggle with this one.
This cozy was just what I needed – a get away to Tuscany and good Italian food. Nell is the main character, an American who is trying to escape her overprotective father and to start a new career. To that end she is working to turn a rather rundown villa into a first rate cooking school. After much work it’s time to cross her fingers and see how ready they really are. Their first class of Americans arrive but murder comes along for the ride. Chef Orlandini (aka Chef O) has a secret marinara sauce and it is to take center stage. Things take a deadly turn when one of the attendees is poisoned. Nell needs to work fast to catch the killer before bad press brings all of their plans for the cooking school crash and burn. Nell’s future plans will go the same way.
If trying to salvage the fledgling cooking school isn’t hard enough, Nell is certain that one of the Americans is really a private detective hired by her father to spy on her. Her investigating also has one very big hurdle – she speaks almost no Italian and the Italians speak almost no English. Talk about a challenge.
I enjoyed everything about this cozy and to say that it made me hungry would be an understatement. Too bad a trip to Italy isn’t possible these days. Nell has issues to work through but don’t we all? I found her to be a great character, she was real and sometimes annoying. Besides the food, the satisfying mystery and the setting there is lots of humor. Put it altogether and this is a very good cozy series.
My thanks to the publisher Berkley and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.
This was my first book by this author. I’m a Jersey Girl and hey the main character is a Jersey Girl; how could I go wrong. This was an interesting read for me. It is well written and the characters are “approachable”. The mystery was a good “cozy” mystery and sort of kept me guessing until the end. I enjoyed the play of the main character, Nell, with all the others. I liked the chemistry hinted at between her and Chef’s son, Pete (Pierfranco). It wasn’t an “I couldn’t put it down” kind of story; but, it did hold my interest. I had to finish it too see what happened and there were a few plot twists (some I saw coming; others I didn’t). All-in-all a good story that I would recommend to those that like a nice cozy mystery with a little spark….
Italy, nuns, cooking, languages, cozy-mystery, situational-humor, verbal-humor, amateur-sleuth, murder
Chef Nell Valenti’s re-created life as a cooking school start-up designer is not going well. The aging Villa Orlandini in Tuscany is in need of a facelift, the noted chef is a clueless wonder whose son is trying to make the whole cooking school thing work to bring in much needed cash, and the nuns’ English is as nearly non-existent as Nell’s Italian. Besides that, they were involved in a murder investigation only a month ago. Now there is a new batch of students from America, including a private detective sent along by Nell’s overbearing father and the unpleasant and constantly complaining husband of one of the women who really want to be there and learn. So guess who gets done in this time. Lots of red herrings and plot twists as well as some very interesting characters. Nell has a hard time doing the sleuthing but still has time for humor. Really enjoyed this one!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Berkley Publishing Group via NetGalley. Thank you!