Customer Reviews

The Da Vinci Cook: An Angie Amalfi Mystery (Angie Amalfi Mysteries)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Trouble seems to follow Angie Amalfi no matter where she goes. When her strict-laced sister, Caterina Swenson, calls her and says she is pursuing a witness to a murder, Angie rushes to help her. What follows is a madcap chase through Rome for Angie and Cat while Homicide Inspector Paavo Smith, Angie's fiancé, is back in America trying to sort out the murder scene and deal with the Amalfi family. Angie and Cat are determined to find the missing witness (who is also Cat's client), Marcello Piccoletti, locate a missing relic, and clear Cat's name.

What a delicious story! Ms. Pence writes such a delightful tale with very vividly drawn characters that it is hard not to immediately get wrapped up in the craziness surrounding the Amalfi family. The Amalfi family lives by the adage that family sticks together so once it becomes apparent that Cat and Angie are in trouble, the whole family swoops in to help. Sometimes, this leads to quite interesting and hysterical scenes. Perhaps Frannie's ordeal with bureaucracy is the best scene but there are numerous laugh-out-loud moments in this fantastic story.

It has been awhile since I have read one of the Angie Amalfi mysteries from Joanne Pence, and after reading this one I'm wondering why. Perhaps what made this tale much more enjoyable for me is that Angie's angst over her career and her continued mishaps weren't as apparent. Instead, we are treated with seeing the entire Amalfi family in action. Joanne Pence has created such a loving, richly diverse family in the Amalfis and I relished every moment spent with them in this book. There is never a dull moment as the action flows smoothly along. THE DA VINCI COOK is simply divine!

COURTESY OF CK2S KWIPS AND KRITIQUES

Not having read any of the other twelve Angie Amalfi mysteries, I may be at a distinct disadvantage to critique this one. That being said, I love Italy, I love food and I love a good mystery. So The Da Vinci Cook is three for three on my "what I love" top-ten list.

The authors' descriptions of Rome, though not poetically descriptive, located all the sights so accurately and with such detail, it felt like a walking tour of the city from the Forum to the Spanish Steps, from the Termini Station to the Vatican.

And the description of their first dinner in Rome, "an antipasto of caprese--tomatoes with mozzarella, basil, and spices--a primo of porcini mushroom risotto...and linguine with pancetta...veal scaloppine with green olives and for dessert...sliced melon and walnuts with...espresso." C'est magnifique!

However, I do have a couple small complaints. Even though Angie is the central figure in the series, I had some trouble keeping that straight because in this book Angie's sister Cat seems to command more attention. I assume that's simply because there are twelve other books in the series and the author assumes the reader are well acquainted with the characters and have no trouble following along.

My other issue may sound pathetically trivial but it really bugged me. The title of the book is The Da Vinci Cook. The front cover of the book shows Mona Lisa holding a wooden spoon covered in sauce. Loving all things conspiratorial (i.e., The Da Vinci Code), I expected some connection. Except for the tangential fact that Angie and her sister work a couple shifts in a restaurant called Da Vinci's, there is no connection. I felt duped.

Did I recover from my snit and enjoy the book, yes! Will it stop me from reading the others, no!

Armchair Interviews says: Italy, historical buildings and wonderful food--what more could you want.

Another fun instalment in the Angie Amalfi series. Joanne Pence gives us a contemporary story that suits the history of the Angie Amalfi italian heritage and the inclusion of all her endearingly loopy family. It's an easy read for fans of this series and I look forward to the next instalment in the lives of Angie an Pavo.

Angie Amalfi ends up following her sister Caterina to Rome after Cat finds a man dead in a house she's trying to sell for Marcello Piccoletti. Unfortunately Cat is a suspect in the murder, and fleeing the country doesn't bode well.

Angie and Cat have trouble locating Marcello when they arrive in Rome. Finally they end up working at his restaurant, Da Vinci's, in hopes of running into him. Plus a potentially priceless religious relic is missing.

Homicide Detective Paavo Smith, Angie's fiancé is trying to clear Cat's name and solve the murder when there are more murders. Plus Angie and Cat's three sisters and mother are constantly showing up to "help" him. He's also trying to talk Angie into returning home. Unfortunately she doesn't return as fast as he'd like.

Can the murders be solved in time to get Cat and Angie home safe? Can Cat and Angie stay safe in Rome with people following them?

I think this was one of the best books in this series. There is always so much going on on both sides of the ocean that the story never lulled. It gave us some better insight into Angie's family as well. I loved the setting of Rome as well. Angie is such a fun character. She's pretty level headed, even when they find themselves in some dicey situations.

I highly recommend this book and the whole series. Give it a try. You'll be glad you did!

The best one so far it really kept me wanting more!!! Awesome book:):)

Joanne Pence has continued her Angie Amalfi series with this engaging takeoff on all the "DaVinci" hoo-ha. I loved it. It's nice to see that Joanne's still able to write convincingly about San Francisco from her exile in Boise ID!

If this is a sample of this series, I will not be reading any more. Angie's family is without redemption, she is totally inept, and I wouldn't allow her to fry balogna. I am tired of books that can only supply tension by allowing overbearing, rude, contemptible family members to browbeat each other.

THE DA VINCI COOK came out of the chute hitting on all 8 cylinders. "VROOOMMMMM!!!" She was off to plot races! A classic murder mystery with bonuses, # 14 in Joanne Pence's Angie Amalfi series slid into place on a showroom floor. Loved it!

On the culinary angle, Angie cooked by default, in Da Vinci's eatery in Rome, teaching the basic ways to discriminate good pasta from bad, and how to produce la noodles a la Italia. I was impressed, having been taught exactly the same way by Marjorie Marie (Rocchio) Hudnall, my Italian mother... whose commercial bakery start up is fizzed up in Coal & Coca-cola.

The Amalfi sisters played Keystone roles in this story, entertaining Angie and Paavo (and me) to distraction. The Amalfi's, kept everyone in lines of chaos, with Paavo in San Francisco and Angie in Rome, riding the main plot separately in a narrative scheme which switched subplots in perfect timing, with each abrupt change cringed at the edge of a cliff of action or thought. My reading head felt like it was rapidly turning side-to-side, watching a ping pong ball tournament, from Paavo's scene in San Francisco with Angie's mother and three sisters, to Angie and her sister Cat running as semi-fugitives in Rome. You could safely say the ensuing story was a gas, sans indigestion.

Caterina Amalfi Swenson's character was drawn with precision, keeping my interest with its clarity mixed into its contrast to Angie. High engrossment was also held by the sensitive scenes of the male mates pining for their women, who had unexpectedly taken off to Rome, not on a planned holiday, but in a serendipitous chase of a man who might have been both a murderer... and Cat's lover.

The Italian ambiance was appealingly addicting. Given that and the action racing here-and-there in various ways and moods, no slow spots seeded weeds in this one. Yet, plot space was maneuvered adeptly into sensitive scenes warmed around character's feelings, spicing emotional depth into the hilarity. Fear and tears flickered with laughter as Angie and Cat catted around the Italian mystique.

Interestingly, though various characters fluctuated between villainy and redemption, the only character who retained her well drawn flaws was Flora Piccoletti, the mother of Marcello, Rocco, and Josie. Well, yeah, Rocco was drawn darkly through each window and wine glass, always in the shadows posing as ultimate victim or villain. Was he a flopped fish rotting in his own red sauce ... or herring stewing into a healing brew? Who knew?

Some of the high points in the story were Angie's sensitivity to each character's insecurities (including her acting as priest for a doubting priest), and the tension with Cat. I also enjoyed the way Angie, through Pence, expressed a simple, though devout view of an older, reverent type of Catholicism buried under Rome's modern day polish and pizzazz. That was the setting within which an ancient religious relic, a rusting chain, was brought into a gentle healing concept, after being drug all over Rome, across the ocean and back again to rest ... where and why... As Angie sensed:

>> An inkling of the old, stricter religion seemed to be in the wind these days, struggling to come back ..."

Another warm, spirited story, as only Angie Amalfi could cause and carry. Well done, Pence! You haven't lost the sensitive touch of a true and growing author. Good luck with your next venture, wherever it may roam.

Get out the champagne and cheers,

Linda Shelnutt