Rick Montoya’s current and preferred occupation was running a translation business in Rome. In order to spend a few days with an old college buddy by the name of Flavio Caldaro, he decided to go skiing on the slopes above the town of Campiglio in Dolomites, a mountain range in northeastern Italy.

Shortly after a morning skiing outing, Rick received a phone call from his Uncle Piero Fontana, who was based in Rome. Commissario Fontana asked Rick to work with Inspector Luca Albani, a well-respected policeman looking for a missing American man by the name of Cameron Taylor who had recently disappeared in the Campiglio area. Rick agreed to go with Albani as he interviewed the sister of the missing man, his role ostensibly as a translator while Albani interviewed Catherine (Cat) Taylor.

When the young man turned up dead and the evidence pointed to his sister, Luca believed he found the guilty party. But, Rick disagreed and his reasoning led them to look further into who wanted Cameron dead, and why.

The deeper Luca and Rick looked into who would want the young man killed the longer the possible suspects list grew. The pair also found the suspect list included some of the most important men of the city.

Death in the Dolomites by David P. Wagoner is the second Rick Montoya Italian Mystery following Cold Tuscan Stone. The author’s attention to detail and strong sense of place brings the town of Campiglio and the Dolomites and surrounding area to life.

The character of Rick Montoya as a translator/amateur detective leaves a lot of room for numerous stories and situations. The author could take him almost anywhere and he could help out the locals, especially those he has come to know.

I wouldn’t call it fast-paced because it moves along at its own pace, but it does move quickly enough to keep the pages turning and the reader engaged. Building the characters and how they relate to one another has been enjoyable to watch.

Conversations seem true to life as friendships are formed, more than likely so readers will enjoy return visits into Rick’s world.

If you are interested in checking out the beautiful Dolomites area, a simple online search will produce gorgeous images and will give you a deeper understanding of the difficulty of the search basic to this story.

A special thank you goes to Poisoned Pen Press for providing us with a complimentary copy of this book. You can find David P. Wagoner’s books on Amazon.com.