Today it’s my turn on the blog tour for Murder In Portofino. My review is written with thanks to Rachel Gilbey at Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me on the tour and to the publisher for my copy of the book.

Blurb:

A much-needed holiday…

Dan Armstrong hasn’t done much retiring since moving to Tuscany, and with his new career as a successful private investigator taking off, it seems murder seems to follow him. He’s hoping a much-needed trip to beautiful Portofino will give him the break he needs and quality time with girlfriend Anna.

A gathering of celebrities…

Portofino is a celebrity paradise, and holidaying on a nearby superyacht is a group of British media stars, all famous for being infamous. Dan isn’t impressed by their status or wealth, but when he overhears an argument between two of the group, he suspects something fishy could be going on…

A cold-blooded killer?

And then a body is washed up on shore and Dan’s hopes for a holiday go overboard. Could this simply be a tragic accident or is there a killer amidst the assembled celebrity cast? Dan and Oscar have their work cut out before the tide turns…

It’s another gripping case for Dan and Oscar – it’s murder in paradise!

Review:

I’m always delighted to hear about, and indeed read, a new novel in the Dan and Oscar series, and Murder In Portofino doesn’t disappoint. Dan is a character I’ve warmed to since the beginning of the series. I love his fair and compassionate approach and his ability to think outside the box and use his gut instinct. However, I’ve never really written much about Oscar and this is a huge oversight on my part. Although he’s a labrador, he’s as important a part of the investigation as Dan. I love TA Williams’ descriptions of his facial expressions and I love the respect he and Dan have for each other. 

The suspects in Murder In Portofino are the guests on the yacht – mostly actors and television executives, who it seems cannot resist some real life drama! TA Williams builds the tension between them brilliantly and this leaves us with a lot of people who could be responsible for murder. I couldn’t wait to find out what had happened and I loved the red herrings along the way.

As the title suggests, Murder In Portofino is set in Portofino and, once again, TA Williams does a great job of helping the reader to picture the surroundings and feel as though they are in the sunshine in Italy, even though the weather outside is awful! This novel is set on a yacht and I really enjoyed the insight into the parties that were taking place there, with wonderful food and drink as always.

I’ll end this review as I always do, by saying that I hope there are plenty more books in this series to come.

Murder In Portofino is available from Amazon.

You can follow the rest of the blog tour here: