Crime of the Ancient Marinara is the second Tuscan Cooking School cozy mystery by Stephanie Cole. Released 26th January 2021 by Penguin Random House on their Berkley imprint, it's 304 pages and available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

This is an engaging cozy mystery set in the Italian countryside around gastro-tourism and a high end cooking school which the expat American main character Nell Valenti is setting up at a villa/convent. Five Americans show up for the first run and it's not long until murder shows up to complicate things for Nell & co.

This is one of those books with a punny title, outlandish setup, strong romance subplot, clean language, non-gory murder, and some recipes included in the back of the book (not included in the early eARC provided for review - so I can't comment on the specific recipes, but they're usually pretty good). It's undemanding and well paced and written, professionally edited and polished. I confess I was hindered in my reading enjoyment because I didn't find Nell a particularly sympathetic or relatable character. She seemed very prickly and petty throughout most of the book.

Well written with a satisfying denouement. Three and a half stars. I would recommend it to fans of the first book in the series and to readers who enjoy the genre.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Nell Velenti has relocated from the United States to the town of Cortona, Italy in the region of Tuscany. Her job is to design a world-class cooking school at the Orlandini family villa, a 500-year-old former convent. The school is run by renowned chef Claudio Orlandiini, his son Pete, and sous-chef Annamaria Bari. The job is more challenging that Nell expected due to the condition of the grounds and the language barrier. Now that it’s time for the first weekend of the cooking school, Nell is nervous but excited they’ll be hosting five students from America for four days. There are moments of chaos, but then things get even worse when one of the guests dies, an apparent victim of poisoning. Now it’s up to Nell to solve the crime and save the school from closing before it gets started.

This is the second book in the Tuscan Cooking School series, but the first I’ve read. The premise of a cooking school in Tuscany sounded wonderful and I was excited to read the book. The setting is as great as I had hoped and I enjoyed the Italian phrases that are sprinkled throughout the story to add authenticity. The set-up with a small group of students coming over for the class is also perfect for a mystery. Unfortunately, I couldn’t connect with Nell, the main character. The first book may have explained more about why she took the position in Italy to begin with, but she complains about the job throughout the book. However, she also complains about her wealthy family back in the U.S., so I can’t tell if she wants to be in Europe or not and it’s hard to feel sympathy for her.

The investigation itself is interesting with Nell asking good questions to get to the truth of the murder. Between the setting and the premise, all the elements are there for a great cozy read, but I didn’t get a cozy feeling from the book. There is too much negativity from Nell, the chef, the sous-chef, and a few of the guests. The story is sometimes hard to follow and I don’t know if it is the writing style or the fact that I didn’t read the prior book. Most of the loose ends of the plot are wrapped up by the end of the book, but even when things are wrapped up, I was still confused about a few of the details. I think readers who liked the first book will enjoy reading about the cooking school’s first set of guests. However, I found the book promising, but ultimately disappointing.

~ Christine

This is such a fun series, and I had a great time with this cozy mystery. I loved the plot, the twists and turns, and the characters!

The time has come for all of Nell Valenti's hard work to pay off. The inaugural class is due to Villa Orlandini soon, consisting of five American students. During the introductions, Chef Orlandini surprises everyone by indicating he will be revealing his secret marinara sauce to the class, Nell, and everyone else in the household is shocked. Nell also discovers her father sent another private eye to spy on her and is intent on calling her father out. Revealed secret marinara sauces and private eyes become back-burnered, the least of Villa Orlandini's worries, when one of the class members is poisoned. In a group full of suspicious characters, Nell must now figure out what and how the poisoning occurred and who is responsible, before their inaugural class becomes Villa Orlandini's only class.

Crime of the Ancient Marinara was an interesting story with likable characters and a believable mystery. Nell is a hard-working American trying to get a culinary school in Italy off the ground. She takes her job seriously, sometimes too seriously it seems. She's doing her best to learn the language and for only a month in, I think she's doing a fine job. Nell is written with realism and her interactions with everyone fit the way a professional in a less-than-perfect situation would act.

The mystery surrounding the poisoning of one of the attendees was well thought out. The suspects were plenty, even if unlikely and/or not plausible. The lead up to and reveal of the murderer, along with the means and motive, were plotted well and I wasn't sure who the culprit was until closer to the reveal. Nell's amateur investigation produced far-fetched theories and her snooping around was borderline illegal, but it didn't detract from my enjoyment.

The story itself was rather slow-paced and it took me a bit longer to read Crime of the Ancient Marinara that other books I've read lately. I still found the story interesting and engaging, with good character development and wonderful world building. I was able to visualize every element of the story including the mouth-watering recipes. I'm excited to see what happens at Villa Orlandini in the next book.

Dollycas’s Thoughts

Plans are coming together at Villa Orlandini to open the farm-to-table cooking school. Their first weeklong class will bring a group of gastro-tourists from America to learn all about making marinara sauce and will include Chef Orlandini revealing his mystery ingredient in his famous marinara recipe. They hit a few bumps in the road with their plans as they work through the logistics of keeping their guests involved and happy. Nell has an inkling that one member of the group is a private detective sent by her father. Another member of the group is rude and is only there because his wife dragged him along. She is excited to be there and is determined not to let her husband ruin her trip. The rest of the group all have their flaws and are pretty disrespectful. When one of the group is rushed to the hospital and dies Nell realizes there is a killer in their midst. A murder is bad, but someone dying the first week they are open could seal the fate of the school forever. Nell knows she needs to find the killer and save the school but she could end up the killer’s next victim if she isn’t careful.

All the people we met at Villa Orlandini in the first book are back. Nell and Pete are getting closer. Chef O. is excited to teach but quickly becomes infatuated with one of his new students which causes some turmoil in the kitchen. The new characters all seem to have something to hide. The murder happens later in the story but the victim was not a surprise. I wanted to reach into the book and kill him myself. The language was still of bit of a problem but Nell is learning more Italian and is finding ways to communicate with people at the villa. It was still necessary to bring in a translator after the murder and Pete translated other times. The translations for us readers still messed with the flow of the story for me.

The murder mystery was very well-plotted and I was surprised with all the connections that were revealed. That being said I had a certain character in my sights almost immediately after the murder because I quickly eliminated the other suspects. I just needed the motive to connect my thinking and that wasn’t revealed until the end. I was a little put off by Nell’s investigation this time. Her snooping and theories were a little over the top at times.

I do enjoy Ms. Cole’s right style. She really knows how to set the scene and bring it to life, Every room at the villa was easily visualized. There was a huge flower delivery too and I could almost smell them from the descriptions. The author delivered up plenty of humor throughout the entire story. The Bari sisters are absolutely priceless.

All the talk of marinara did tempt my tastebuds. Thankfully we eat Italian inspired food often around here.

Crime of the Ancient Marinara was a nice little escape to Tuscany. The characters were entertaining and the mystery very interesting. The ending did leave me wanting to know what was going to happen next at Villa Orlandin, so I am looking forward to the next book in this series.

This was an interesting cozy, that had wit, humor and a good mystery. It was all about Italian and has a bonus with recipes at the end. I have always wanted to visit Tuscany so I loved the atmospheric writing style of this author. The plot was good and I enjoyed the characters. Looking forward to #3.
Many thanks to Berkeley Publishing Group and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Berkley for the ARC of Crime of the Ancient Marinara!
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This book is deemed a 'cozy mystery', and having recently read Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder, another cozy, and not liking at all, I was really hesitant to dive back into a cozy. That being said, I was really pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book!
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This is the second in the series A Tuscan Cooking School Mystery, and I think it would be extremely helpful to read book 1. I sorta dove into the middle of the character ARCS and I think had I read the first, the characters would have been familiar and it wouldn't have taken so much time for me to get into the story.
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That being said, I enjoyed the writing and the mystery. For me, anything that takes place in Italy is a WIN and there was definitely a lot of Italy/Italian/Recipes to keep me turning the pages.

So I definitely recommend this book, but start with the first!

After a month of hard work, Nell Valenti is ready to oversee the opening of Villa Orlandini as a cooking school lead by the famous Chef Orlandini. In fact, the first group of Americans are arriving at the Tuscany villa in just a couple of days. Nell is hoping that the worst of her problems will be Chef’s broken arm, a bocce ball accident. But then the guests arrive, and they aren’t what Nell is expecting. They seem to be a difficult lot. When one of them is poisoned by Chef’s famous marinara, Nell realizes she has real trouble on her hands. Can she figure out what is going on?

While I did struggle with some things in the first book in the series, I still enjoyed it. Unfortunately, those same issues are present here. The most prominent is Nell’s struggle with Italian. While we always know what is going on, it is presented in such a way that it keeps us out of the story. It’s a shame because I do like the returning characters, and the suspects grow as the story progresses. The mystery takes a while to truly get going, although we are meeting suspects. It’s a shame the pacing isn’t better since there is a good mystery buried in the book. There was a major editing error, as well, that resulted in a character being in two places at once. The book left me craving Italian food, so the recipes at the end are a nice bonus. The first book had its fans, and they will enjoy this entry as well. But if you struggled with the first one, you’ll struggle with this one.

Brought to you by OBS Reviewer Jeanie

I enjoyed this visit to Villa Orlandini, the newest Tuscan gastro-tour destination, even more than the first! It was a pleasure to get to know the Orlandini and Bari families better, as well as Nell, who came from the United States to design their new cooking school. The setting of the gorgeous countryside of Tuscany made it very appealing to this armchair sleuth. The humor, great characters, and mystery helps make this a fabulous vacation from daily cares and keeps the pages flying.

Villa Orlandini is a former 500-year-old convent that has been owned by famous Chef Claudio Orlandini for many years. The septuagenarian developed and introduced his secret recipe for his world-renown prima marinara sauce decades ago. This first class will have five students, all from America, for a four-day intensive called Marinara Mysteriosa. The real tease is if he will really reveal the secret ingredient to the world since no other chef has been able to guess it or duplicate the flavor. There is a strong attraction between Nell and Pete, Chef’s son and owner of Second Wind Olive Grove.

Five Americans arrive, eager to learn all about making marinara sauce. The teaser of learning the secret recipe for Chef’s proprietary marinara sauce has appeal. There is one married couple, Bob and Glynis; Bob is not happy to be there. Jenna is a coffee barista who wants much more for her life. Zoe is an outdoor educator, and George is a server at an upscale bistro in Brooklyn. The questionnaires do not indicate that any have cooking experience.

Annamaria has been Chef’s sous chef for over forty years and has never gotten over the affair they had as many years ago. It is quite the shock, then, when Chef is taken in by Zoe’s charm and he makes her his sous chef for one of the lessons. Annamaria’s sisters are sisters at the convent in nearby Cortona and are on loan to help with their needs as they begin their first intensive.

The first day went reasonably well, including Annamaria taking them out to harvest mushrooms and learn to identify the difference between safe and poisonous. Annamaria told Nell afterwards that one person in the group did not return the knife used for harvesting. George appears interested in Nell, resulting in Pete being jealous. When teaching the four marinara sauces later that day, Chef Claudio claims one is his secret recipe, revealed on the first rather than the last full day. Nell overhears George and Zoe talking about something being missing; she wonders if they are discussing the sauce.

The tour van hired to transport the students was taking the group into town to enjoy live music in the piazza. Bob complained that there was battery acid on his pasta that was hurting his tummy and stayed behind. Jenna, the youngest student, could not be found, and Nell wanted to find out where the missing knife could be, so Nell stayed at the Villa, also.

The next morning, Nell learns that Bob was taken to the hospital during the night, very sick. Later that day, he died, and the labs done showed he died from the poisonous mushroom that Annamaria had shown the class the day before. It had probably been in one of the marinara sauces he ingested for dinner. After a day of questioning everyone, the police found evidence in the kitchen pointing to Annamaria. Convinced that she is innocent, Nell wants to find who killed Bob and get Annamaria out of jail.

It was fun getting to know the characters better! Nell and Annamaria are my favorites, even as Anamaria’s sisters seem like a fun family with their affinity for playing and singing to Billy Joel music. Nell and Pete make a good couple, until stress and jealousy sends Pete in another direction. The visiting students are defined well enough to make solving the murder hard.

Second in this fun new series, I would suggest reading Al Dente’s Inferno before this to get a better flavor of the characters and background. Delicious plot twists took this reader by surprise more than once, and totally changed the face of the mystery and possible suspects. I did not realize who the real bad guy might be until a page or two before Nell’s light bulb moment. She did a fabulous job of revealing the killer, and the end was almost completely satisfying. I highly recommend it!

This cozy was just what I needed - a get away to Tuscany and good Italian food. Nell is the main character, an American who is trying to escape her overprotective father and to start a new career. To that end she is working to turn a rather rundown villa into a first rate cooking school. After much work it's time to cross her fingers and see how ready they really are. Their first class of Americans arrive but murder comes along for the ride. Chef Orlandini (aka Chef O) has a secret marinara sauce and it is to take center stage. Things take a deadly turn when one of the attendees is poisoned. Nell needs to work fast to catch the killer before bad press brings all of their plans for the cooking school crash and burn. Nell's future plans will go the same way.
If trying to salvage the fledgling cooking school isn't hard enough, Nell is certain that one of the Americans is really a private detective hired by her father to spy on her. Her investigating also has one very big hurdle - she speaks almost no Italian and the Italians speak almost no English. Talk about a challenge.
I enjoyed everything about this cozy and to say that it made me hungry would be an understatement. Too bad a trip to Italy isn't possible these days. Nell has issues to work through but don't we all? I found her to be a great character, she was real and sometimes annoying. Besides the food, the satisfying mystery and the setting there is lots of humor. Put it altogether and this is a very good cozy series.
My thanks to the publisher Berkley and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I requested to read and review this book from Berkley Publishing Company. This book has a beautiful setting in Italy. You can picture the little towns and farms that make up this area. Characters in this book are unique and bring a personalities that can make up this group. Nell a trail blazer, Pete learning the role of business man and entrepreneur, Chef who has secret that he might share, Annemaria is a mystery in herself and how she ticks. And sisters Rosa and Sofia are sisters that don't let much get them down. And the American group that comes to them all have secrets of their own they want to keep. But how long can they keep and how far are they willing to go to keep their secrets. Sit back and enjoy the Sauce Ride.

An enjoyable trip to Italy. A nice variety of characters. Lots of Italian sprinkled throughout. Interesting relationships. A delightful cozy mystery.

Nell is settling into her new life in Tuscany, and has decided to launch a taste test run, inviting a select group of foodie tourists. Chef O is willing to share the recipe for his secret marinara sauce, but are the tourists really who they say they are? When one of them seems to have been poisoned by the sauce, Nell must figure out what really happened before the bad press can ruin her new business.

This is the second book in the Tuscan Cooking School series, which I read despite not caring much for the first book. Unfortunately, this story was as disappointing as the previous installment, probably because I found the main character so annoying. She jumped to conclusions, she searched rooms without permission, she withheld information and clues from the police, she seem paranoid and overly suspicious – all things that make me dislike a cozy sleuth. I love the setting, and the descriptions in the book made me feel almost like I could smell the foods cooking. The mystery was good, even though I was pretty sure I'd figured out the identity of the killer relatively early in the book, and I was right. I might read the next book in this series eventually, but I won't be in a hurry to read it as soon as it's released.

An entertaining and well written cozy mystery. Great plot, characters and setting . Mystery fans will not be disappointed. I received an advance ebook from the publisher and Netgalley and this is my unbiased review.

Great Story about Tuscany, a cooking school and a murder. Hard to Gruß who the müderer really is. Has a ceetqin Italien Flair. I like it.

3.5 stars

This second entry in the Tuscan Cooking School mystery series has a great setting -- the school's fledgling culinary travel class comes to Italy. American Nell Valenti has been hired to administer the school curriculum and "oversee" the temperamental Italian chef. The cooking school is at his family villa -- which is old and a bit crumbling but gorgeous and steeped in atmosphere. This would be more comprehensible if you had read the series debut.

There is a fairly likable cast of characters and the plot is ingenious. The inclusion of Nell's issues with her famous pop psychologist parents is unnecessary, and we don't get any further into Nell's question mark relationship with the chef's hunky son. But there is a lot of action, some great food descriptions, and a lot of fun in the reading. Thanks to the publisher and to Net Galley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 stars rounded up. The setting of this series is carrying a lot of the weight, and the storyline is setting this up in an interesting way as to how it can possibly continue long term. The much foreshadowed murder happens relatively late in this story, and there are possibly a few too many plot lines and side characters. But the setting is really a true gem, and I do enjoy the charm of the family and school.

Five tourists have come to Nell's cooking school in Tuscany in anticipation of Chef Orlandini revealing his magically wonderful marinara recipe- and then one of them is murdered! Nell moved to Italy to more or less escape her family and to help the Orlandini family transform their slightly tatty villa into a cooking school. Unfortunately, trouble seems to follow her and in this second installment in the series (which is fine as a standalone), it's possible that her father has sent someone to keep an eye on her as well. It's a fun cozy with a terrific setting and no spoilers from me regarding who is murdered and why. Know that Nell doesn't speak much Italian and the staff doesn't speak much English so there are occasional Italian phrases, the meaning of which will be obvious. Chef O is a hoot at times (and a pain at others), his son Peter might be a love interest for Nell, and each of the tourists has an interesting aspect. You might quibble with how Nell investigates (shouldn't she work more closely with law enforcement?) but that's how cozys go. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This was a nice diversion from the news and it made me ache to travel again. I'm looking forward to the next one.

A cozy mystery in Tuscany, this book takes place at a cooking school. There was some charm to the characters and the dialogue, but about one third of the way in the book, I wondered when the mysterious death would occur. While the main character solved the mystery and the suspect lead to a nice twist in the story, the charm inherent in a cozy mystery felt a bit lacking for me.


Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for the arc.

Love the pun and love the book in general! I was drawn to this one because of the cover and found the story just as twisty and delightful. Perfect for pet lovers and foodies who want a mystery that will keep them guessing.