A quick moving and easy to read murder mystery. A wedding is about to take place on an Italian island but the bride is late…..

Thee are a lot of rich guests on the island who are unpleasant, to say the least. And there is some kind of secret. And mafiosi.

It quickly becomes dark and dangerous for the main character, Robyn, who is attending with her boyfriend, Toby. Toby is the brother of the groom but is very much the black sheep of the family as he does not want to join the family business, the source of all the wealth. His family are all horrible characters so who would blame him?!

An enjoyable read. I did guess ‘whodunnit’ but not until near the end. I read a copy provided by NetGalley and the publishers but my views are my own.

I loved this author’s previous book, so was looking forward to this and I was not disappointed in any way. Tom Hindle has brought the plotting of the Golden Age up to date with this one being a clever take on a country house mystery, with a limited set of suspects. Plenty of sub plots and red herrings to keep you intrigued. I loved the protagonist and enjoyed the nastiness and self absorption of the other characters.

Tom Hindle's mysteries ( Fatal crossing) follow Agatha Christie's plot structures and are great fun to read. His latest, Murder at Lake Garda, which is coming in January 2024, is just as clever as Fatal crossing was, if not more so.

The Heywood family are celebrating their son's Laurence wedding to Eva, an influencer with a troubled track record and a bitch with an attitude, on island Castello Fiore at Lake Garda . Toby, his estranged brother and his girl friend Robyn get caught on the island with other guests when the wedding ceremony is cut short by a scream. Needless to say someone was murdered. Until the very end I had no idea whodunnit which is rare. Really enjoyed  the chief protagonist Robyn, a perfect escapist mystery.