Identity of mystery Barga writer revealed

A new novel is just about to hit the bookshops and there is a somewhat familiar ring to the whole affair. The book is called Tuscan Termination and is the first novel in a series set in the beautiful fictional hill-town Borgo San Cristoforo, in Tuscany, featuring Dr. Ruggero di Girolamo written by mystery/crime fiction Margaret Moore. Hmmm, hill town …. Borgo San Cristoforo … Tuscany ? Is any of this ringing bells ?
Maybe a bit more research is needed.

From the blurb at the back of the book we find a blurry image a woman holding a cat with the text stating that; “Margaret Moore was born and brought up in London, England, but has spent all her adult life in Italy where she lives with her Italian husband, large family and seven cats, and works as a freelance translator and interpreter. It was her life-long love of detective fiction that inspired her to start writing her own.”

Murder simply doesn’t happen in the lovely Tuscan hill town of Borgo San Cristoforo, not even to unpleasant, unscrupulous real estate agents like Ettore Fagiolo. Found floating facedown in a swimming pool, the gossip is that Ettore was blind drunk, and drowned. The alternative is unthinkable.

But a crushed skull proves otherwise. Hilary Wright first spotted the body from her bedroom window. Now, along with several other English expatriates, as well as many locals who had secret reasons to loathe Ettore, she is a suspect. Worse, she had her own dark reason to want Ettore dead. Drawn into the investigation to save her neck, Hilary and Dr. Ruggero Di Girolamo, the magistrate in charge of the case, discover the depraved, twisted life of the victim, and the surprising face of his killer.

Well yes, it turns out that Margaret Moore IS a writer living in Barga – “the fictional hill-town Borgo San Cristoforo” was maybe just a little too much of a clue to be overlooked. Margaret Moore – better know perhaps as Margaret Morganti. So the secret is out. All the cards are now on the table.

After the initial publication by Hilliard and Harris in America in 2005, Tuscan Termination was bought last year by Harlequin for their Worldwide Mystery Series in Canada. The book has now been bought by Mills and Boon UK for their new Black Star Crime Series – out this month, available in all good book stores.

The second book in the Ruggero di Girolamo series ‘Tuscan Temper ‘will be published by Black Star Crime in a few month’s time. Watch this space for more details on that publication.