American Nell Valenti is trying to develop a top-rate cooking school in Tuscany. Despite a murder there not too long ago, she is proceeding with her plans for helping Chef Orlandini to open a farm-to-table course to attract visitors from all over the world.
The first class of five Americans arrive for a four-day course on how to produce amazing marinaras with a variety of ingredients. The students’ backgrounds are very mixed and includes people with not much previous cooking experience. One man was a waiter who Nell suspects was really hired by her father to spy on her as had happened previously. The husband of the only couple owned an expensive car dealership and expected to be treated like royalty.
While Nell and the chef’s son, along with the cook and the chef, had the program pretty well planned, things did not move smoothly. The schedule began changing, often without much notice. The chef pretty much ignored it and encouraged one of the students to take over the job usually done by the cook.
But Nell valiantly kept trying to provide the quality program that had been promised.
Then someone is murdered and there are many suspects. In addition, the police have to close down the kitchen while they look for evidence and Nell and other staff members have to improvise.
CRIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINARA is a well-written quick-read with interesting dialogue and characters as well as humor. There is a recipe for an Argentinian marinara at the end of the book. ( )

Italy, nuns, cooking, languages, cozy-mystery, situational-humor, verbal-humor, amateur-sleuth, murder*****

Chef Nell Valenti’s re-created life as a cooking school start-up designer is not going well. The aging Villa Orlandini in Tuscany is in need of a facelift, the noted chef is a clueless wonder whose son is trying to make the whole cooking school thing work to bring in much needed cash, and the nuns' English is as nearly non-existent as Nell's Italian. Besides that, they were involved in a murder investigation only a month ago. Now there is a new batch of students from America, including a private detective sent along by Nell's overbearing father and the unpleasant and constantly complaining husband of one of the women who really want to be there and learn. So guess who gets done in this time. Lots of red herrings and plot twists as well as some very interesting characters. Nell has a hard time doing the sleuthing but still has time for humor. Really enjoyed this one!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Berkley Publishing Group via NetGalley. Thank you! ( )