[Pursue it] Turn to Stone by James W. Ziskin - 1.5 stars rounded up to 2 stars

[Theresa]

About a third of the way through, I was really starting to wonder how this author got to a 7th book (which this is) in a detective series featuring Ellie Stone, girl journalist, set in the early 60s. Then suddenly there is this scene that is absolutely delightful, involving how many people you can fit into a Fiat with all their luggage, with no a/c to drive to a country house outside Florence, Italy. It was delightful, something reminiscent of that final car scene in Notting Hill, the movie, and something I remember doing when I was in my 20s, even 30s. There were also various moments involving a rooster who likes to crow 2 hours before the sun rises, Ellie sneaking off on a borrowed Vespa, and a few other moments of great color and charm. Yet, none of them actually were necessary to move the mystery plot along.

Ellie is in Florence to attend a Dante symposium to accept a posthumous award for her father, a renowned scholar. The man in charge of the symposium drowns in the Arno at about the same time that Ellie arrives in Florence, setting up the mystery as to whether a crime was committed or was it an accident or suicide, and why. Ellie, being insatiably curious and considering herself something of a detective, starts investigating while she's stuck with a group of the deceased colleagues, family, and students at a country house. There's a possible rubella exposure requiring all to quarantine at the house just to give this elements of a locked room mystery. When all is ultimately resolved at the end, I felt cheated actually.

There's a lot of Italian political and social history involved in the backstory to all the characters, including participation in the Spanish Civil War, facism under Mussolini, and WWII. Catholicism and Judaism play a part. And none of it is really particularly well explained or interwoven into the story IMHO. I just happened to have recently read several historical fiction and historical mysteries set around these wars, and all those authors did a far better job of interweaving and explaining the history. I also thought the way Ellie is written is too much a male author trying to write an independent woman ina way that women want to see - and to me it did not work.

The author could not even save this by having Ellie be a graduate of my alma mater, Barnard College. I give it 1.5 stars rounded up to 2 because of the Fiat scene, the rooster, and the Barnard connection. I will not be reading any of the earlier books in the series or any new ones that get published. I'm seriously wondering how this ended up nominated for an Edgar - and how the series has won many previous awards.