Eat, Slay, Love by Julie Mae Cohen (pubished y Abrams)

 Eat, Slay, Lovem by Julie Mae Cohen  is as you might guess from the titlem a comic crime novel, featurng three women: a librarian who has just won the lottery, a fitness influencer and a chef who gave up her profession for motherhood. At first, the novel seems to be a story of the misery of abuse and fraud perpetrated by a husband fiance, and lover, but the story veers away from that story of misery and fraud into a farce featuring kidnapping and murder rather than bedrooms and assignations.

    There are sudden shifts in the narrative, surprises and coincidences, plus a heavy dose of revenge--leading to self-realization (hence the reference to the famous book on which Cohen's title is based). I enjoyed this book and recommend it for crime fans as well as readers seeking some dark comedy.

Murder in Pitigliano, by Camilla TrinchieriPro

 Prolific mystery writer Camilla Trinchieri has published four books in her Tuscan Mystery series. The fifth, Murder in Pittigliano, is due out this year. I haven't read the first four, but it's OK to start this series out of order, the author is very good at keeping a reader in the loop, regardless of their prior knowledge of the backstories of the characters. The series falls into the murder-in-a-small-town category, not exactly cozy but full of colorful characters, a cute dog, lots of food and wine, plus romance. 

An interesting comparison occurred to me while reading the book: some parallels woteh TanaFrench's most recent series, based i rural Ireland (particularly with the first book, The Hunter). In both Trinichieri's most recent book (at least) and in French's series there is an emigre American detective on his own (and then partnerec), there is a key young girl who enlists the services of the detective (the girl not quite so young in French's book), and frequent reference to preparing food (more basic in the Irish series, somewhat more Italianm though not totally traditional) in Trnchieri's. There ism of course death in both series, and there is also resisresisstancetence to the interloper detective in both.

But in Trinchieri's book, the American is integrated more smoothly into the community (though not totally welcomed) where as in French's there is always a distance. The dog adopted by the detective in Trinchieri's book helps to ingratiate him, whereas the most prominent animals in French's are a pack of raven's that mock the American despite his attempts to befriend them. And the biggest contrast is that in the Italian-set novel, there is ultimately a comfort in , for the interloper and for the reader, while in French's the American's comfort is much more limited (basically to two other characters), and the community as a whole never ceases to retain a threatening atmosphere. There are in the end cozy qualities to Trinchieri's very readable and enjoyable book, while French (as is typical in her work) goes to a darker place. I can happily recommend both, and would add that we are as readers fortunate to have both to choose from, and to inhabit each according to our taste and mood.