The Italian secret A novel

In 1948 Sydney, Billie Walker (last seen in The Ghosts of Paris, 2022) runs her late father's detective agency, primarily helping women escape their abusive husbands. For her latest case, she gathers evidence for her client, Darlene Elliott, regarding her husband's infidelity, which is all Darlene needs for the courts to grant her a divorce. When Darlene dies under suspicious circumstances, Billie is sure she was murdered either by her husband or by the gangster Vincenzo Moretti, whom Mr. Elliott had apparently hired to threaten (or kill?) both Billie and Darlene. Then, Billie discovers old love letters to her father from an Italian woman named Francesca, revealing her father's apparent wartime affair. Driven by her need for answers, Billie travels to Italy. But what's supposed to be a journey of discovery turns perilous when Moretti shows up, seemingly intent on killing Billie. Despite the danger, Billie keeps searching and eventually uncovers surprising truths, a shocking link to Moretti, and family she never knew she had. Moss' intrepid heroine is a good choice for fans of Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs.

Australian PI Billie Walker makes game-changing family discoveries in the entertaining third installment of this historical mystery series from Moss (after The Ghosts of Paris). In 1948 Sydney, Billie is helping Darlene Elliott divorce her abusive, philandering husband by proving his infidelity. Then, while rearranging her late father's filing cabinets, Billie stumbles on £500 and a packet of love letters from an Italian woman she's never heard of. Stunned, she books passage on a luxury cruise to Naples--ostensibly to relax, but also to investigate the possibility that her father was having an affair. Just before the SS Luxor sets sail, Darlene Elliott dies mysteriously, and Billie blames her archnemesis, Vincenzo Moretti, whose backstory turns out to cut much closer to Billie's own than she realized. Moss manages to keep her copious plot threads from getting tangled, and she supplements the action with sumptuous period fashion and simmering romance. (The love triangle between Billie; her assistant, Sam; and Sydney detective inspector Hank Cooper, while lopsided, is inspired.) If some of the tale's feminist rhetoric feels flown in from the future, it only enhances the enjoyable sense of wish fulfillment. Moss's fans won't be disappointed. Agent: Chris Bucci, Aevitas Creative Management. (Dec.)