Dan Armstrong, retired Chief Inspector of Scotland Yard, now private detective/writer in Tuscany, is prevailed upon by a former colleague to go the Italian Alps to check on the colleague's sister who is involved in a mysterious death this side of the Matterhorn. The crew he is to infiltrate are alien hunters and are trying to pass the death off as a Extra-Terrestrial visitation gone wrong. Dan with his faithful black lab, Oscar, soon learn of the disagreements among the crew.

I found this series about a year ago and fell in love with the mysteries but especially the characters. The descriptions of the areas visited as well as the plot are great! ( )

private-investigators, ex-cop, UFO fanatics, unputdownable, friendship, friends, cooperation, writers, cozy-mystery, hospitality-industry, Labrador-dog, local-law-enforcement, murder-investigation, relationships, relationship-issues, undercover, translators*****
Not an unbiased review. Love the series and Oscar in particular!
Dan Armstrong retired after 30 years in the Murder Squad where his "pals" gave him the "gift" of a writers' retreat in Tuscany. Since then, he has become divorced, settled in to stay in Italy, made friends with some men in the local Polizia, adopted a Black Lab (Oscar), written a mystery that's recently been published, and made the acquaintance of a bilingual professor who seems to understand that you can take the man out of The Job but you can't take The Job out of the man.
While this is a cozy mystery, it is also something of a procedural because of personal involvement with the local police where they make use of his Italian/English translation abilities and he gathers information from his colleagues back in England. Fun, twisty, surprising, and definitely unputdownable! Great characters, good worldbuilding, very relatable, and no problem as a standalone.
I requested and received an EARC from Boldwood Books courtesy of NetGalley. Thank you! ( )