A tale of dark deeds carried out against a backdrop of incredible beauty
I have enjoyed many good novels set in Florence, but I don’t think I have ever appreciated the way an author has portrayed the city quite as much as I did while reading A Party in San Niccolò.
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| A Party in San Niccolò is a crime novel set in Florence |
Christobel
Kent brings Florence to life in the novel and she reawakened many of my own memories
of the city, reminding me that I also once went for an afternoon snack at Procacci in the Via de’ Tornabuoni and of the time when I first saw the Boboli gardens.
In A Party
in San Niccolò, a young
English woman, Gina, visits Florence for the first time and we see the city through
her eyes. She is going to stay with an old friend, Jane, needing a rest from
the demands of her husband and three young children.
Jane’s
marriage to a handsome Italian architect, Niccolò, turns out not
to be as perfect as it
first seems and Gina also finds herself becoming involved in the problems of one of Niccolò’s daughters,
Beatrice, who comes home in a state of shock after learning that her best
friend has been found dead.
When Gina
goes to Niccolò’s country villa
for a few days, she makes an unpleasant discovery and soon finds herself in the
midst of a murder investigation in the Tuscan countryside. She is helped by an
English friend of the family, Frank, and although she is happily married, Gina
finds herself drawn to him.
Throughout
the whole novel we are told about a party due to happen at the end of the week
to celebrate the birthday of Frances, one of the British expats in Florence.
As Gina and
Frank uncover more evidence about the murder of Beatrice’s friend, the night of
the party draws closer. Matters come to a head in a dazzling denouement as the
characters meet up at the party, held in a beautiful garden in Florence that is
evocatively described by Christobel Kent.
A Party in
San Niccolò was Christobel Kent’s debut novel and
was first published in 2003.
