Murder at La Cappella

Ex-NYPD homicide detective Nico Doyle investigates the murder of a local bartender in the Tuscan countryside.

On a late October Sunday morning in Gravigna, local maresciallo Perillo is having breakfast with ex-NYPD detective Nico Doyle when he is called back to the station in Greve. Laura Benati, the young manager of Hotel Bella Vista, is worried-her bartender and good friend eighty-year-old Cesare Costanzi has been missing for three days.

The next morning, Jimmy, co-owner of Bar AllAngolo, Gravignas local caf , where Nico is a frequent patron, runs out of gas on his way back from Florence. When Nico meets him to help, Nicos dog, OneWag, reacts to the smell coming from Jimmys trunk. Inside Nico finds a body wrapped in plastic: Cesare Costanzi, stabbed several times in the chest.

Why would anyone kill Cesare, and how did he end up in Jimmys car? Thats for Nico to find out, as Perillo once again turns to Nico for help with the investigation.

First published as Murder on the Vine.