I spend quite a bit of time on Twitter and receive quite a few follow requests. Just over a year ago I received a follow request from this author. I looked at her profile expecting to find the latest vampire-zombie-romance novel, but no. I was pleasantly surprised to see a young woman with a defiant look about her and a warning to be nice or you'll wind up in her next he next crime novel. I went our and bought her book. It was a collection of short stories involving a young looking detective Chase Williams.

Chase is a former Scotland Yard detective in exile in Tursenia, Italy. He is no longer employed in police work, but gets drafted into helping the local police inspector. Chase reminded me of a grown up Encyclopedia Brown. Chase seemed to be a polite, nice guy. I read the second collection and Chase seemed to grow as a character. He seemed lose some of the young image in the second book, but was recognizably the same person. In Pull the Trigger Chase, becomes more of an adult, or a bit more real. He gets angry and annoyed. His secret, the reason he left Scotland Yard, is becoming more of an issue.

In his first full length book, Chase is called in to help in a sports mystery. A rather timely controversy in cycling is the center of the story. After so many very short mysteries, I was wondering if Chase would make a smooth transfer into a full length crime thriller. The mystery and suspense are well done and had me guessing the whole time. In fact, as a pre-release reader, I wrote the author early on thinking I had the mystery solved, I was wrong.

Mattana is an interesting writer Born and raised in Italy and now residing in England. Her writing holds almost an accent in my American mind. The British is visible in her writing and the Italian in her style. It took until this last book for me to realize that Chase is her mirror image. We have a female, Italian, living in Britain writing about a male, Brit, living in Italy. It is nice to Chase evolve as a character and develop an edge. A very enjoyable read and mystery. Grab a cup of tea or cappuccino and enjoy.
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