The Italian 007
Alright, calling Marco, the hero in the story as James Bond 007 is overstating it. He is not a spy; rather, he is the equivalent of an FBI agent in the White Collar crime division. For the past two years, Marco has been after his childhood nemesis Giovanni who is a jewel thief but they don’t have enough evidence to put him to jail.
Enter Anne Marie, a recently divorced librarian who was an old flame of Giovanni when he was an exchange student in California 20 years ago. Anne Marie is visiting Italy to see Giovanni with the hopes of rekindling a two-decade old flame.
But, instead of meeting Giovanni at the hotel, Anne Marie met Marco and a new flame began, overshadowing the two-decade flame. Yet, as the flame of love grew between Marco and Anne Marie, the question of whether Anne Marie was a courier of stolen goods or an innocent bystander continue to gnaw on Marco. For Anne Marie, the longer they stay together, she keeps on getting suspicious that Marco is not the simple tour guide he says he is.
Until the last few pages, the mystery continued and the ending is surprising!
In “That’s Amore”, author Carol Grace stepped out of her comfort zone and presented a romantic suspense. And, still true to her style, Ms. Grace fleshed out the characters, as Marco and Ana Maria (Italian translation of Anne Marie) came alive. Secondary characters – Nonna, Giovanni, Evie, etc. were also given the same care with characterization.
This book is PG 17 due to adult situations
