Friday, March 14, 2014

Game For Five


Game For Five (Murder Mystery)
“A Bar Lume Mystery”
By Marco Malvaldi
ISBN #978-1609451844
Europa Editions www.europaeditions.com
142 Pages
Price $15.00
Rating 5-Stars

“A Fast And Easy Read, With Interesting Characters.”

A young man, with too much to drink, stops along the road when nature calls, and discovers a body in a trashcan. Driving to a bar he’d passed moments before, he calls the police but they think he’s just a drunk and hang up on him. The bartender, Massimo Viviani tells the youngster to direct him to the body. After viewing the young girl, dead, in the trashcan, he calls the police and gets results. Two suspects are apparent early on, and the police center their investigation in their direction. In the meantime, Massimo and the regulars at the bar have their own ideas about the case.

Bar owner Massimo Viviani tends bar and listens to his grandfather and his pals play cards and tell tales. Ampelio Viviani is 82; Aldo owns the Boccacoio restaurant and is also elderly; Gino Rimediotti, 74, was a retired postal worker; and Pilade Del Tacoa, 74, had worked in the town hall in Pinate. These four men, along with Massimo are the main players of this new mystery series from Italy.

The Bar Lume may be a gathering place for old men, but the reader will get a few chuckles at the cantankerous old guys, as they follow the mystery to the end. Massimo is an interesting character, as well. Once he gets on a problem, he will follow it until he discovers the truth. I think mystery fans will enjoy this new series from Italy. The writing is simple, and easy to follow, and the author throws in a nice switch at the end.

Tom Johnson
Detective Mystery Stories

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