Having sorted out a couple of murders, Nick Morris is back doing what he does to make ends meet – mostly painting cat portraits of subjects who won’t sit still and have a set of razor blades – so when the offer comes in from an old friend of two weeks in Piacenza, Italy, teaching at an art retreat, he leaps at the chance.

The group of would-be artists seem to be a pleasant enough bunch, although there are clearly tensions and deceptions abounding, but things come to the fore when Gregory Stone, a famous author turns up. A bully, a misogynist and a plagiarist – despite that, Nick is still horrified when the dead body shows up in his hotel. And it seems that the murder must have been committed by one of his students…

The third book in Michael Jecks’ “The Art Of Murder” series, focussing on the protagonist’s observational abilities to aid his reluctant sleuthing. I do like Nick as a narrator, as there is a nice line in self-deprecating humour. He’s no great detective, getting quite a lot of stuff wrong, although those mistakes aren’t played for laughs, merely steps in finding out the truth of the situation.

Of the three books in the series, this is closest to a classic-style mystery. There were stronger thriller-elements in those, but this one, with its oddities around the crime – why was the victim wearing someone else’s clothes? – embraces the whodunnit element.

The suspects are distinctive – I know I say that a lot, but it’s important to me – and they all have important parts to play in the whole narrative. And just as importantly, it’s fun and I constantly wanted to know what happened next.

On top of that, Michael makes full use of the Italian setting, painting a beautiful picture (sorry) of life under the sun. Never been to Italy, but this does make me think about it. Apart from the murders, obviously.

It does feature one of my bugbears, namely the body in the first chapter followed by a long flashback as to how we get there, but this time, to be fair, I was enjoying myself with the sowing of motives and getting to know the suspects. The best book in the series to date and I’m curious to see where Nick goes next.

The Piazza Murders is out now from Severn House in hardback and ebook. Many thanks to Severn House for the review copy via NetGalley.