Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this book.
I absolutely loved the atmosphere created by this book. I have been to Rome and reading this brought back good, vivid memories of that trip, right down to getting lost near the Pantheon. The setting has a really authentic feel, and the descriptions are wonderful. It's not just what can be seen but, I felt that it appealed to all the senses and made this a memorable read. I particularly liked the extracts from the "Welcome to Rome" pamphlet at the beginning of each chapter - pure gold!
The plot was quite intricate with many twists and turns. The story follows Maggie White who is an expat living in Rome. She was let go from her job so she is out to prove to herself and the world that she is still capable of something and this becomes the motivation which drives her every decision. I have to confess that I found Maggie very annoying. Her habit of spinning theories out of thin air was particularly irksome and I felt the middle section of the story where she fantasizes about drug deals and art theft was quite slow. I almost gave up reading at one point.
After much running around everything finally fell into place with the big reveal at the end.
I did have a question though - how did the killer know that Lord Walpole had a gun and where it was kept?

Murder in the Piazza is a cozy mystery that takes place in Rome. Maggie White is a fifty-something woman who moves to Rome when her husband takes a temporary job assignment. But, after working most of her adult life she finds that she misses it. So, she accepts a position as assistant to a gentleman who offers painting lessons and private tours to visitors in Rome. When her boss, a distasteful man, is found murdered, Maggie becomes involved in the investigation.

This book has so many elements that appealed to me. An older amateur sleuth, a group of interesting suspects, and Rome. Even the cover of the book is beautiful. How could this not work? But, sadly, it didn’t work for me. I found Maggie to be annoying, jumping to conclusions that really didn’t seem to be very logical, accusing a variety of people of murder, and then refocusing on yet another suspect. It became pretty clear that Maggie didn’t have a clue, and yet she thought that she, a foreigner, could do a better job than the local police. And, when she wasn’t focusing on the murder, she fixated on the loss of her job and the meaninglessness of being a non-working spouse. Good grief, she was in Rome and couldn’t seem to appreciate that. In the end, I really didn’t like Maggie very much.

Meanwhile, I found that the storyline definitely needed to be tighter, with better transitions and less random activity, and more attention paid to detail (how can someone be walking up the stairs with their hat in their lap?). Even the passages that referred to Rome and its beauty felt flat. The names of streets, piazzas, and buildings seemed to go on and on, while the descriptions were minimal. Even the mention of meals and food items lacked the descriptions that would have made my mouth water. Although gelato was (finally) mentioned, after that it was referred to as “ice cream” (gelato is definitely not ice cream). Caio de pepe, suppli, and pizza (all iconic Roman food) didn’t make the cut at all. These are some of the things that would have made this book richer and might have drawn attention away from the fact that the plot was rather weak and disorganized.

At the most I would give this book 2.5 stars.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book for review.

Love Love Love!

As a cozy mystery newbie, I loved absolutely loved this book! I loved the quirky characters and the unexpected twists. In particular, I loved the protagonist, Maggie. Her gentle determination to get to the bottom of the mystery and middle-aged, retiree background made for a refreshing, engaging read.

I also loved the setting. Jen Collins Moore did an amazing job of integrating the Italian setting throughout the book to allow the reader to get emerged in the Italian atmosphere. I finished the book longing for a fresh Italian gelato :)

For a debut author, the writing was superb. The clues were included with just enough subtlety and the plot points were integrated seamlessly and packed enough punch to keep the pages turning. The characters were also fleshed out beautifully and masterfully portrayed to allow for the wide cast to be instantly identified / recognisable which made reading the twisty-turny mystery such a delight!

If you're looking for a book that will transport you on an Italian adventure and make you forget about 2020 for an afternoon or two, I would 100% recommend :)

Can't wait to read what Jen Collins Moore comes out with next!

Murder in the Piazza, first in the Maggie White series, by Jen Collins Moore takes place in Rome, Italy, where a small private tour group visits famous local attractions to study and paint them. Maggie, an American in her mid 5O's, runs the tour group for English Lord Phillip out of his mansion/ palazzo. Two different murders occur involving the tour group. There is a wide range of ages and background in the tour group which makes an interesting mix of possible suspects. When the Italian police seem to be making little progress, Maggie becomes determined to solve both crimes. The author allows the reader to enjoy a tour of Rome while solving a double murder mystery. I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy and all opinions are my own.

Murder in the Piazza is a cozy mystery set in Rome, where Maggie White works to solve the murder of her new boss, the owner of an art tour company in Rome.
I loved the descriptions of Rome and the factual pointers at the beginnings of every chapter. The references to art and history were interesting and informative.
BUT as a mystery this novel lacked suspense, tension or a likeable amateur detective. I found Maggie White hard to warm to, and didn’t really get why she wanted to get involved in a murder case. She showed no aptitude for solving crimes. She was also unrealistically upset about people knowing she had been made redundant instead of leaving her job...even suggested as a potential motive for murder at one point!
There were so many minor characters and any one of them could have done it, given how little information we had about any of them.
Overall, I think this story had potential that it just didn’t live up to.

Murder in Piazza is a classic who-dun-it mystery set in Rome. It is a cozy read with a great backdrop.
The sites are described beautifully and I felt like I was in a vacation in Rome. There is a lot of information on the history of the locations and I liked the small blurbs about Rome at the beginning of each chapter.
But it was a slow read for me. The characters were not very likable and there were a lot of them which made it hard to remember who is who. The plot had a lot of twists which made it readable but by the end I just wanted to be done with it.

Overall, it is a good cozy read for mystery lovers.

An entertaining and engrossing cozy mystery.
I liked the well thought cast of characters, the descriptions of Rome and the solid mystery that kept me guessing.
It's the first book I read by this author and won't surely be the last.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

While I love dark mystery thrillers, I also love a good cozy mystery novel, they are great palate cleansers between heavier books and it's always fun (although usually not too difficult) to try to guess whodunnit. I like when a cozy leans to the foodie side and takes place in a different country or charming location. Murder in the Piazza has all of those things, and is the first book in a new series, the Maggie White Mysteries. (It's nice to get in on the first book of a series and not have to play catch up too!). Maggie White is a former marketing executive who gets let go and is now an expat wife when her husband is sent to Rome. Used to being busy and with two young adult children sent off to college, she finds herself at loose ends in Italy--not wanting to play bridge with the other expats. She takes a job managing luxury art tours for Lord Phillip, a not-very-likable boss and is wishing him to be a little bit dead one night. Unfortunately that wish comes true when Lord Phillip is shot while the tour guests are enjoying fireworks on the rooftop. Maggie feels like the Italian police are slacking on the case and gets herself involved and soon she's the prime suspect.

This is your basic cozy, Maggie has a natural curiosity and tends to jump to conclusions about people which gets her into some difficulties as she meddles her way to solving the crime. I had the killer figured out fairly early but I enjoyed Maggie, (although sometimes I wanted to shake her a bit--also common in cozies) ;-) her two co-workers and the group of mostly American clients she herds through the tour as Lord Phillip's attorney wants her to keep it going so they don't have to refund any money. The descriptions of Rome and the art and architecture were lovely and the food descriptions had me craving pasta and Italian dishes. If you like cozy mysteries and Italy, you will enjoy it. It's a solid first book and I will definitely be looking for the next one.

I did not finish the book. I found the protagonist unappealing, the dialogue stilted and the mystery uninteresting. Sorry!

Such fun to read a cozy mystery which takes place in my most beloved city on the planet, the incomparable Rome. Very meaningful and relatable, though one needn't be familiar with sights/sites to enjoy this book as the atmosphere was described well.

Maggie White and her husband are Americans temporarily living in Rome. While her husband works, Maggie finds boredom closing in so finds a job providing painting instructions. After her boss is found dead, she also helps with tours along with others she enlists.

The police seem to be dragging their feet so Maggie decides to seek answers. After all, people paid for painting/tours. She, as an American, is flabbergasted by inaction and undercurrents of corruption. She lives near the hotel where the tourists are staying and spends most of her time with them, including meals, so takes advantage of this to question and observe. The subplots are interesting, too. The book is deliciously full of murder, mayhem, theft and deceit.

My favourite aspects are the descriptions and essence of Rome, the history references and the pamphlet excerpts. The twists were fun. I like the pace and length, though I felt it took me a bit to become immersed. Once I did, it was hard to put down. The character assortment was great.

Those who love Rome (and dreamers!) and cozy mysteries with local flair will enjoy this delightful book. I have already made a note to watch out for subsequent books in this series!

My sincere thank you to Level Best Books, Jen Collins Moore and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this delightful book in exchange for an honest review. Much appreciated.

This was such a cozy Murder mystery set in Rome. ahhh Rome. What an escape it was to read about another location other than my hometown. The description of the architecture and overall environment was spot on. I have visited Rome more than once and I was able to revisit some locations through her work.

In all, this was a quick enjoyable read. There wasn’t any suspense but I did enjoy the numerous plot twists.

Murder in the Piazza
By: Jen Collins Moore
Level Best Books
@levelbestbooks

The Murder in the Piazza synopsis had my name written all over it. A who-done-it mystery, Italy, Art and a main character that is an Expat. My dream! Unfortunately, this was just a like for me; Not a love. And that’s okay.

Maggie White was a marketing executive who lost her job; So when her husband was offered a job in Rome, Italy it was perfect timing. But, the dolce vita wasn’t the answer for Maggie. Feeling restless being jobless, she takes a position with with an English Lord to be a tour guide for his company that offers traveler’s painting instruction.

Everything is going well enough, well . . . until her boss turns up dead one night in his penthouse! The police close the case pretty quickly and rule it an art robbery gone bad. Maggie disagrees and goes investigating on her own!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 All the many, many characters and the never ending theories Maggie had were enough to make you dizzy! The author’s writing is great. If the theories and characters were scaled back I think she’s definitely has got something here. I could see this being a series!

The first thing that attracted me to Murder in the Piazza was the cover. Attractive Italian buildings and domes, no mistaking this one: the story is set in Rome.

Maggie is a downsized American executive who has followed her husband to Rome on a prolonged foreign work assignment. Feeling herself superior to the other expat wives she has told the expat community that she quit her important job in the States by her own choosing.
She has been working for an English gentleman, who runs an upmarket tour agency offering painting holidays in Rome for would be artists, for the whole of one week and is already thinking about killing him. Well, in thought that is. Two pages or so later, someone else doesn't stop at thinking about killing but bumps off the obnoxious individual for real. Although the murder doesn't really take place IN the piazza.

This is the starting signal for Maggie, a fervent reader of crime and detective novel, to start blundering her way through a whole lot of most outrageous and unbelievable scenario's, suspecting almost everyone on the tour to be the murderer at one point or another. But fear not, she does manage to identify the real culprit in the end.
I didn't warm much to the protagonist, but I must give her credit for her imagination. All the main characters in the book were somewhat of a caricature, from the wealthy American couple to the English solicitor, the heir and the painting instructor, who, o what a coincidence, all went to the same private school.

It was an enjoyable enough read, but a bit superficial. The setting was nice and it's always nice to read descriptions of Rome. and art in Italy. One thing though, as so many American books about Italy, there are too many errors in the Italian phrases that are intended to give some "couleur locale". If you use phrases in the local language, make sure you don't make errors.

I want to thank Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Maggie is in Rome working for a tour agency which specializes in everything cultural and specifically painting. Her husband works there and rather than join the expat crowd who socialize and gossip she feels she ought to do something.

When her boss is found murdered at her desk Maggie is immediately fired up trying to find answers and solve the crime herself. She is rather impetuous and first does something and then thinks of the repercussions later. When she discovers the Italian police side stepping the issue and closing the investigation before it even begins she decides to take things in to her own hands - rather rashly. Despite warnings from several others, to mind her own business she goes into the case and when another death happens, one of her group actually, it begins to hit home that this is not just a personal vendetta but something bigger.

Unravelling it is complicated, the murderer is well hidden and all the apparent clues of forgery, drug handling, money laundering are all put aside when the final outcome is reached.

I did not much care for Maggie's style or her manner of work but the story was a good one, the setting and descriptions were very readable.

Sent by Level Best Books courtesy of Netgalley for an independent review.

Maggie White is a middle aged American expat in Rome working as a tour group manager who fantasizes about different ways to murder her obnoxious boss until one night she walks in to find him dead at his desk--the victim of a fatal gunshot wound. Maggie quickly realizes that her now deceased boss is not exactly what he appears to be as she begins to hunt down his murderer (all while still leading a tour of art loving Americans and Brits around Rome).


This book is a really fun murder-mystery with beautiful descriptions of Rome scattered throughout. I enjoyed the characters (Maggie is great!) and the detailed descriptions and facts about different places in Rome. If you miss traveling, this is a nice treat.

cozy-mystery, murder, murder-investigation, Rome, law-enforcement, amateur-sleuth

Rome was beautiful, the art was exceptional, the characters were almost caricatures, and the investigation was rather a spoof. I found it to be rather fun and enjoyed the read.
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Level Best Books/Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) via NetGalley. Thank you!

I liked the cover of this book and the fact that is a cozy set in a different country. I was hoping it would be a nice change of pace from the usual cozy faire of small town amateur sleuth where everyone knows everyone. Unfortunately, I was disappointed.

Maggie is an older protagonist than the usual cozy heroine at 55. The author likes to compare other characters' ages to Maggie's, saying they are x years older or younger than she is. I started out liking Maggie but when we got to the actual murder and she is essentially telling the inspector how to do his job after panicking that she was going to be the number one suspect and then being miffed she wasn't put me off. However, as I continued to read I found myself not caring whodunit and just wanting to be done with this book already.

I appreciated the author's creation of ambiance through her writing. I have never been to Rome but I had good visualization of the setting based on her descriptions. I could picture the ornate architecture and the charming cafes. I just really didn't care about the rest of the story. Maggie became extremely unlikeable over the course of the story and I had to struggle to finish. Will definitely pass on future books if this becomes a series.

Thanks so much to Level Best Books and Netgalley for this free ARC of Jennifer Collins Moore's debut novel, 𝘔𝘶𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘪𝘢𝘻𝘻𝘢!⁣
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Maggie White is a former marketing executive living in Rome with her husband who has been transferred for work. To keep herself busy, she takes a job with a small tour company whose niche is painting lessons across the city. One evening, Maggie discovers her contemptible boss dead in his office. Maggie is suddenly caught up in her own investigation to find the murderer. Suspects abound from co-workers to guests. ⁣
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This is a cozy murder mystery reminiscent of Agatha Christie. Maggie's fixation on solving her boss's murder can get a little far-fetched at times. However, the supporting characters are quirky/entertaining. I especially loved Ilaria. I couldn't for the life of me figure out whodunnit. All loose ties were wrapped up nicely which I always appreciate. Got to have those answers.⁣
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The setting was molto bene! I fell in love with Roma on my senior class trip back in 2001. It was a delight to take a tour around the city again while reading this story. (Also...I now want all the pasta and gelato.)

3.5 stars

This was a readable if perhaps not memorable mystery with an interesting setting. Maggie White and her husband Burt are in Rome. Burt's job took him there, and Maggie was at loose ends after an abrupt termination from her U.S. job that she is embarrassed and secretive about. But, after becoming bored with the wife ex-pat socializing experience , Maggie has found something to sink her teeth into: she is the sort of manager of a high-end travel group that provides insider tours and experience for artists who want to see Rome but also spend some time with an instructor/artist.

The owner of the group is a semi-disgraced British peer who becomes the first murder victim. There are lots of characters who are nicely drawn: the Italian police, the local helpers, the tour group members, Maggie and Burt's social circle, etc. But Maggie was hard for me to warm to. Even for a cozy, it is difficult to figure out why she is so obsessed and nosy and pesters the police to such an extreme degree. She almost daily comes up with a new outlandish suspect with not much apparent logic. But, to her credit, she does eventually come up with the right solution. She is also uber-sensitive about her layoff from her U.S. job and it's hard to quite figure that out too.

But the setting is fun, and the culture and feel of Rome is very well done. A pleasant enough read. Thanks to the publisher and to Net Galley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was just what I needed, a virtual return trip to Rome, one of my all time favorite cities. Joining Maggie was great fun as she went from boredom to a new job to wondering how she would go about bumping of her odious boss. She forgot that old saying, be careful what you wish for - two weeks into her job working with artist tours somebody does bump off Lord Philip Walpole and the whole tour group, assorted others and, of course, Maggie, are on the suspect list. Not being satisfied with the lack of proper investigating on the part of the police, Maggie starts to do her own investigating. Armed with a vast knowledge gained from decades of consuming mysteries of all sorts - Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot for starters - Maggie is off and running. All over Rome. I loved every minute of it.
The mystery was first rate with twists, turns and some red herrings to keep me guessing wrong. Maggie is a real person with what I consider to be believable interactions for an ex-pat living in a foreign country. Not that I have ever been an ex-pat but it worked for this reader. I hope there will be more time spent with Maggie in Rome or maybe she can take a holiday from Rome and find another mystery or two or three elsewhere in Europe.
My thanks to the publisher Level Best Books and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.