Fantastic historical mystery that pulls the reader in and transports them to Renaissance Italy. Great characters, and a story you will remember.

I found it difficult to relate to both the context (historical and location) and characters. I liked the idea of the book but, for me, it was too difficult for me to immerse myself in.

Malice in Milan is a historical novel set in Milan and Florence during the Renaissance.
Seemingly it is the third novel in a series but is was easy to read as a stand alone,

Niccolo Argenti, a Florentine lawyer, is send to Milan as part of an investigation committee along with two other Florentines, to investigate the death of al Florentine bank employee.
I found the story rather dull, there was little background about the characters or the timeframe this book is set in and hardly any character development.
Although I like historical mysteries set in Italy, this book was not an invitation to read the other books.
I'm sorry but I don't think the book is worth more than two stars.

Malice in Milan is somewhat like Law & Order but has been plunked down into the middle of Renaissance Italy. The description of the book sounded intriguing. Noting that the book was the third in a series, although they can be read as stand-alone books, I desired to read the others. I sought out book 1 The Laureate which was somewhat helpful in providing some useful background for this title. I did not have opportunity to read book 2.

In Malice in Milan, the young lawyer Nico is placed on a new committee and races off to Milan to help solve a crime. While solving the crime, he interacts with a wide variety of individuals from both the upper crust and the under belly of Milan. He also utilizes a variety of street smarts in addition to his legal acumen to wrap up the case. In addition to a moderately interesting plot, Tentarelli provides a variety of interesting tidbits regarding Renaissance Italy which makes the book mildly educational as well. Recommended with hesitation for readers who love the renaissance time period and enjoy mysteries. I would encourage readers to seek out a copy to borrow rather than buy.

I received a complementary copy of this book via NetGalley.

I wanted to love this book but I think some editing and some more character development would be needed
Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This is the third book in a series but all books are said to be stand alone. I have not read the other books but didn’t feel like I was missing anything. That being said, I really wanted to like this book and sadly I did not. I love historical fiction especially if it takes place in Italy. However, this supposedly takes place in the 1400’s but there is not much besides tunics, legal documents or modes of transportation to represent that era. It’s not that the work is not descriptive, it is, but it is tedious. There is so much unnecessary detail about things that don’t pertain to the story that I was constantly wishing for some editing. The characters were flat and stereotypical. The dialogue was fine but not special. It was very slow going. I love to read and when I’m captivated by a book there isn’t much to distract me. I found myself putting this down to do minimal chores and that was a sign that I just couldn’t finish this book. It takes a lot to make me quit reading a book; I don’t often do it. I made it 35% of the way through but I wanted to quit at 10%. I think the idea is good. There is a story there, it just needs editing and revising. At this point, I’m not interested in reading other books in this series. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Malice in Milan is the third in a series featuring the main character Nico Argenti. I have not read the previous two books in the series, and on the strength of this one, I will not be rushing to make up for the deficit.

In short, the whole book seemed to read more like a resume or summary of a book, rather than a complete novel. There was no character development, no real plot development - in fact, no development of any kind. From the outset we appeared dropped in the middle of the story, with no preamble. This may be a feature of the fact that this is the third in a series, but there is little hope for the series if the books cannot stand alone to this extent. The first occurrence is the commission of the crime, which forms the prologue. Then comes the start of the book proper. We are thrust in the midst of a series of events which is bewildering in its suddenness. We have the qualification of the main protagonist as a fully-fledged lawyer, then the formation of a secret Commission of which he has been asked to be come a member, then the dispatch of this Commission on their first assignment. There is no training or orientation period. They are just sent off on a mission, with no idea of each other's strengths, weaknesses, abilities or indeed characters. The whole thing seems to be a recipe for disaster! None of these three men know each other and Nico Argenti barely knows himself. He is uncertain and extremely insecure - far less confident than the others on the Commission. He is young, a newly qualified lawyer with little or no practical experience - unless something extremely surprising occurred in the two previous books - yet immediately upon qualification, he is elevated to a Commission that investigates crimes!

The story lurches from occurrence to occurrence as if it were a police report rather than a novel. As aforementioned, characterisation and character development is completely lacking, and characters swim in and out of the narrative as required, with little or no qualification for their appearance other than expedience or necessity. Even the main characters lack any real depth and one gets no sense of who they are or what motivates them. Even our main protagonist remains an enigma. Beyond the fact that he has a lady-friend called Bianca whom he is very fond of, we get no sense of who he is at all.

The book appears to be the work of an amateur - more akin to a creative writing class exercise than the work of a professional writer. The book is set in renaissance Italy, but the terminology and language used is anachronistically modern. The law enforcers are referred to as 'police' and 'policemen'. Also, male costume includes 'tights' instead of 'hose'. There was even a painful reference to a 'ball-player'! While the book is indeed set in Italy, it is written in English, so the constant use of Italian words and phrases - such as 'miglia' instead of 'miles' seemed unnecessarily contrived, especially since such words required translation in the first instance. Then why not just use the English word in the first place? Also, the author has no sense of the use of POV, and switches from limited third to third omniscient as and when it suits him, with perplexing and dizzying results.

After the initial lurch into action, the book set a plodding pace throughout the first 80% of the story, then, bewilderingly, the whole thing seemed to take on the pace of a runaway train for the last 20%. As Nico Argenti is a lawyer, the reader is expecting a fiery courtroom scene denouement - in fact, he deserves one. However, the final courtroom scene was no more than a damp squib. This may well be how courtroom scenes were played out in renaissance Italy, but I doubt it very much. Nico Argenti said almost nothing, and there was no clever cross-examination. The prosecution witnesses just made their statements, the defence counsel made a 10 second rebuttal, then the court adjourned to allow the Magistrates to consider their verdict, which we didn't even get to hear!

The final scene was, true to form, rushed and completely superficial. We finally meet Nico's young lady, Bianca, and she is as flat and lack-lustre as every other character in the story, as is the entire scene. Even the interaction of the two lovers is limp and unexciting. There is not a spark in this entire book, so by this time we are by no means surprised. The author throws in a mention of 'heat' between the couple. In their short scene, there was as much heat as in an ice-house, but it was a fitting end to a completely ice-cold book.

Strangely, the book contains an afterword which explores whether the women portrayed in the book are of their time. The first answer is 'no', because most of the women in the book live on their own, away from family and especially male protectors which, anathema though this is to us now, this is what was expected of women of that time. Indeed, the author did go on to explain just this. Then he went on to denounce his own book by explaining that no, these women were not of their time, for exactly the reason I explained above. An extraordinary addition to the book, and I could not fathom why it was included.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of Malice in Milan.

Though I appreciated the historical perspectives in this title, I was unable to connect with the characters, and I felt that the narrative fell flat. As such, I found this difficult to finish, though persisted until the end.

1460s Florence. A Commission for External Security has been set up with 3 members. Investigator Vittorio Colombo, lawyer Nick Argent, and military expert Sergeant Massimo Leoni.
Their first assignment is in Milan. It has been arranged that Florentine citizen Portinari, manager of the Medici bank will be abducted. But why and by whom.
Unfortunately I didn't find the story interesting, or got a sense of the characters of the main people and so find it a struggle to finish.
An ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.