Al Dente's Inferno - A Review

 Review

AL DENTE'S INFERNO by Stephanie Cole
The First Tuscan Cooking School Mystery

 

After successfully setting up a cooking school in the Berkshires and ending a regrettable relationship, Nell Valenti is thrilled to start her next venture, starting a farm to table cooking school in Tuscany at the home of her culinary hero. She arrives to discover a dilapidated villa with a derelict chef who seems more interested in bocce than braciole! Not only that, the villa's residents a have invited local dignitaries to a special dinner the following night to garner interest in the future school that will be filmed as part of a documentary. Worse, the director happens to be the best forgotten ex she left in the Berkshires! Surprisingly, the evening in question unfolds beautifully...until a chef goes missing and a dead body is found. Now it's up to Nell to find a killer and save the future school - and herself!

 

Cooking in Tuscany? What's not to love? The concept of creating a cooking school in such a wonderful locale is a great one, but making it a dilapidated villa with eccentric characters is brilliant! Nuns who love Billy Joel!?! A moss filled common room? I love how Nell begins to find herself as she whips the villa into shape. 

 

The first Tuscan Cooking School Mystery provides a complex mystery, made more intriguing by the varied relationships between the characters.

 

AL DENTE'S INFERNO is a wonderful escape into Tuscany. Eccentric characters, wonderful food, and a good dose of humor make a delightful start to a new series.