I always like Carol Goodman books. Some are better than others, but she always brings a degree of class to the mystery genre. I find that I feel less like I am reading a mystery and more like I am reading a good story.
"The Night Villa" is typical in a Carol Goodman sort of way, with strong ties to ancient myths and main characters who are academics. Her writing allows her characters to have a degree of truth that you don't often find in mysteries, possibly because it isn't the usual "loner detective" style plot line. I always find that when I think of what is actually happening in her books, they are usually pretty absurd. That said, her writing definitely makes it believable, and as we said in the theatre, I suspend my disbelief.
This story, centred around a classics professor, revolves around an academic excavation of a series of Roman Ruins on the island of Capri. The actual plot is just OK, but I would argue that the better-than-average writing makes it worthwhile. I know that while I was reading it, just the descriptions of the food made me crave Italian food like no one's business. Mmmmmm....still thinking about buffalo mozzarella... Also, the juxtaposition of the modern characters with the ancients also was relatively well done, especially considering my aversion to reading "stories within stories". I hate that crap.
Overall, I give "The Night Villa" 4 evil cult leaders out of 5. It gave me a prosciutto and tomato hangover. Not that I'm complaining.
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