A Villa in Sicily: Figs and a Cadaver (A Cats and Dogs Cozy Mystery—Book 2‪)‬

I love these books, this second book I read in one night, I couldn’t put it down. Once you start, you get caught up in the story and need to know what happens next! The characters are great, and you feel like you get to know them more and more as the pages turn. Reading how the characters live and interact with each other is great, but then the added mystery really makes you not want to stop reading. This book was a real page turner, and I cannot wait to read the next book!

Very similar to Angela Lansburys /Jessica fletchers ,MURDER TO WATCH !!!!

☹️ little fairy tale , simplistically written, the plot repeats in exactly the same way in each book, in all the series of books!
And entire passages of repetition of previous events bulk out what is a very basic fantasy story over and over..
The principal character is also the same, different names but each a copycat of the other .
I was offended by the overly casual treatment and consideration of the heroine’ furry friends, always disturbingly left to fend for themselves in unusual situations and location, given very inappropriate foods …. very very un educational for anyone who does not appreciate the huge load of responsibilities one should feel and practice towards any creature they claim to care for.
As there are so many people who are not remotely aware of the level of commitment an animal requires to be kept safe and fed in a species appropriate manner, the example set out in these books is soul destroying in its total blindness to it all.
The only way to excuse this is in considering these books as simple fairy tales as mentioned above. If you are looking for a mindless read, you are happy knowing the plot and all its sequences beforehand, can set aside the irritation regarding the furry ‘friends’, these series can give you a stuck in time feeling which can be reassuring in times of difficulty.
However, it would be helpful if the author could take the trouble to verify the correct wording of any foreign terms she casually sprinkles in the Italian books, rather than use approximations and mix them up with Spanish at times. It is irritating to those who know the language as well as give rise to unfortunate differences in the meaning. The dog named Polpetto’ (in the Cosy mysteries series of the vet who buys a 1$ house in Sicily) was likely to be intended as ‘Polpetta’ ( a sort of mushy meatloaf type food), as ‘Polpetto’ actually means small octopus!! and Italians don’t say ‘Madre de Dios’, but ‘ Madre di Dio’…. etc etc