The Trouble with a Hot Summer: A Simona Griffo Mystery [Paperback]

Camilla Trinchieri (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 30, 2003

A vacation in fabulous East Hampton turns ugly after advertising legend Bud Warren asks Simona to investigate his wife's supposed suicide, which he is convinced was murder. A few hours later someone burns down Bud's waterfront home. Then Bud is found drowned. Was Bud's hunch about his wife, Polly, the reason for his murder? Or was the reason hidden in his burned-down house? Was Polly in fact murdered? There are enough questions to keep Simona and her new sleuthing partner, Dmitri K, running back and forth from the Hamptons to Manhattan. And too many suspects: Laurie Warren, who couldn't stand her mother. Steve, local bayman, who feels the Warrens cheated him out of valuable land. Bud's partner, Lester, who wanted control of the agency. Jim, restaurant owner, who is seducing Simona. Dodo, local eccentric, who spews regret and Lewis Carroll quotes, and Rebecca, famous painter, who knew Bud from another time. As fire rages across the Hamptons and Simona zeroes in on the murderer, she has to watch her step to stay alive.A recipe for Cool Pasta is included."The mix of breezy vacation fun and somber matters of death, passion and art provides the tension needed to make this a sultry summer read."-Publishers Weekly"The Trouble with a Hot Summer is even better that Simona's last outing. This is a brisk mystery and a fun read, and Camilla Crespi is one hot writer."-Richard Centner, Mostly Murder"As is true with the earlier novels, Simona is fun to read about as are the different and interesting settings for each of her stories. For well-knit stories told in a humorous vein Crespi is right up there with today's best."-Don Sandstrom, Mystery News"Good beach fare, especially if you're headed to bonacker country."-GraceAnne A. DeCandido, Booklist

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Simona Griffo--the Italian-born, New York-based food and murder expert--is worried about losing her soft creative job at her ad agency, of being pushed upstairs with "the Living Dead, account executives who get to work at 8 a.m. in ironed suits and crisp hair, trailing antiseptic deodorant smells. I thrive in the late-starting, garlic-breath, T-shirt-and-jeans department." She certainly does. Simona's latest misadventure takes her cooking and crime-solving skills into the world of high fashion, where one of Griffo's clients is in danger of losing her company and her freedom. As usual, there's a great-looking recipe at the end of the book--this time for something called Shmatta Pasta, which I'm making tonight. Past Griffo gourmandizings in paperback include The Trouble With Going Home, The Trouble with Thin Ice, and The Trouble With a Hot Summer. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

In her new adventure (following The Trouble with Going Home), Simona Griffo calls on her native Italian wits and independence to unravel a puzzling murder in Manhattan's garment district. Simona, whose day job is with an uptight advertising agency, is hired by aging (and some say, declining) designer Roberta Riddle to investigate the murder of Phyllis Striker, her fitting model who apparently, over the years, had antagonized just about everyone in her prestigious firm. Roberta hopes that her business partner, Charlie Angelo, whose bloody fingerprints are discovered at the crime scene, will be cleared. Simona's lover, New York Homicide Detective Stanley Greenhouse, is also working the case, and the parallel investigations bring friction to their relationship and danger to Simona, whose relentless curiosity brings on some of New York's more determined muggers. Having hired Dimitri, an enterprising taxi driver, for protection, Simona interviews a colorful, voluble crew of suspects (a tailor, a seamstress, the building owner) and uncovers a Byzantine web of bribery, blackmail and pure malice going back 30 years. The labyrinthine scheming diminishes the impact of Crespi's zesty characters in their vibrant city setting, deflating a tale that might otherwise have kept the reader on pins and needles.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 370 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse (July 30, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595287182
• ISBN-13: 978-0595287185
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,508,808 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars She is back and better than ever, June 13, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Trouble With a Hot Summer: A Simona Griffo Mystery (Simona Griffo Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Advertising executive and amateur sleuth Simona Griffo, her live-in lover Stan, and his son Willie leave the city for a vacation at the Pyne's Cottage on Long Island. When her two guys leave to go camping in New Hampshire, Simona decides to stay on the island a little longer. A new friend Bud Warren wants Simona to prove that his ex-spouse was murdered instead of committing suicide. Simona, along with her partner, illegal Russian immigrant Dimitri start their investigation only to have their client disappear. ...... At first, it is believed that Bud has purposely vanished because he knew that he was about to be accused of killing his former wife. However, that theory proves false when Bud's corpse is found floating in the lake. The authorities rule suicide, but Simona thinks otherwise. Bud never went rowing without wearing his life jacket, yet the protective device was found in a different locale, a distance from the corpse. The daughter of the two so-called suicide victim hires Simona and Dimitri to investigate both deaths even though she thinks the culprit is someone she dearly loves. The detective duo uncovers numerous suspects, who have means and motives. As they get closer to uncovering the truth, they place their own lives in jeopardy. ....... Camilla T. Crespi has an amazing talent that makes reading her novels seem like eating potato chips. It is impossible to stop reading until you have devoured the entire book. Even then the audience will open up another bag and devour a previous novel in the series. THE TROUBLE WITH A HOT SUMMER has no troubles as it captures the atmosphere of a Long Island summer among the Robin Leach crowd. However, it is Simona's relationship with the various characters that turn this mystery into a delightful novel. Whip up a batch of Simona's cool pesta dish for lunch and enjoy a fulfilling reading experience. .....Harriet Klausner

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Fluff in Disguise, March 22, 1998

By 

puffinswan "puffinswan" (Brigadoon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Trouble With a Bad Fit: A Novel of Food, Fashion, and Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)

The mystery genre has expanded since it's "Golden Age", to encompass and indeed embrace many new forms. Now we have funny murders, cat detectives, and women who love their guns best, to amuse us alongside the classic puzzle or even no puzzle at all. Yet hidden deep inside the heart of every well written mystery one thing must remain, suspense. Every good mystery must supply the reader with a question that must be answered. That why or how or who creates the suspense and adrenaline surge that readers seek from a good mystery. Camilla Crespi does not seem to yet understand this basic need. Her latest book " The Trouble with a Bad Fit" is tailored to please everyone and succeeds in pleasing no one. The only thing she got right was the title. Pale humor, soft characterization, a recipe here and there (because it is so trendy) cannot disguise or distract from the book's basic lack of suspense filled heart. And because the plot seems as unimportant to me as it obviously did to the writer, I will not try to will it back to conciousness here, but will merely leave one final clue: fluff in disguise.

5.0 out of 5 stars delicious reading, July 3, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Trouble With a Hot Summer (Mass Market Paperback)

I passed this book around to all my friends and family. Everyone loved it .We all cooked along with the author Camilla. Nana