Martin Gani

Violin-Maker's Secret Martin Gani

A delightful collection of 25 short stories with an Italian flavour, a number of them are actually set in Italy. The stories include several entertaining murder mysteries brilliantly investigated and solved by intrepid Lt. Vespucci based in New York. In another, an Italo-American travels from Dallas, Texas to Palermo, Sicily, looking for his origins, he's in for a big surprise. A Canine Called Kim, and Meeting Claudia Cardinale, are true stories; Violin-Maker's Secret, and An Excursion in the Alps, are based on true stories. Sometimes characters in one story reappear in another as in the case of The Runners, and The Maze where father and son go to explore a real life maze in the Parma province of Italy, and then go on to visit a castle by the name of Fontanellato, nearby, both the maze and castle are accurately described, narration is of the 'thriller' style ending with a totally unexpected twist. Often fact and fiction blend offering interesting, factual information carried alongside a gripping story as in the case of, Meeting Woody Allen. A couple of stories, An Excursion in the Alps, and Murder Mystery at a Film Festival are set in Italian-speaking southern Switzerland. There is quite a bit of romance in, An Encounter, partly taking place in Como, where the author is based, and partly in the nearby Swiss town of Lugano. A Christmas Story is a warm tale unravelling in multi-cultural London. The Reunion, set in a Rome hotel, tells the story of eight successful university graduates from UK, they attended the same school in UK, and decide to have a reunion 20 years after leaving school, the revelations brought by one of them, is bound to turn their lives upside down. In the last story, Fitting In, the English teacher Lisa we first meet in, A Christmas Story, goes to Rome where The Reunion story is taking place, like her a number of characters from other stories will also converge on this luxury hotel in Rome but I'll say no more...