REVIEW OF ASHES TO ASHES, DIAMONDS TO DUST BY PAMELA ALLEGRETTO

                                              From Linda Lee Greene, Author & Artist

 

My last copy of the “Road Scholar” magazine, published in January, 2020, tells me that for a total of about $3,700.00, I could have booked a trip comprising 9 Days/8 Nights with 9 meals and lodging at the Hotel Bonvecchiati to discover the timeless beauty, architectural grandeur, world-class cuisine and unparalleled cultural legacy of Venice, Italy with local experts leading the way, and plenty of time on my own. I can only imagine the vast number of travelers forced to cancel scheduled trips to Venice as a consequence of the pandemic—but take heart fellow voyagers: there is a happy alternative available to us and we don’t even have to leave the comfort of our BarcaLoungers to take advantage of it. Closed-off borders even so, for the price of $20.95 for a paperback or $2.99 for an eBook, American author and artist Pamela Allegretto has stepped in to satisfy your Venice yearnings with her new novel, a madcap tongue-in-cheek escapade titled “Ashes to Ashes, Diamonds to Dust”. The whimsical book cover is the first clue of the jaunt awaiting us once we crack open the first page—there we meet American Carla Romano, landed in Venice dead-set on road-testing her Gucci stilettos on the city’s defiant byways, apparently, as well as attending an international art exhibit and tossing her deceased friend’s ashes in the Grand Canal.

 

As if colorful Carla herself and her intended itinerary aren’t enough to whet our appetites for the read, a rogue’s gallery of oddballs with their own agendas for Carla and her friend’s ashes soon turn up and mix up the whole, humorously bungling Keystone Cops affair. In an easy, breezy, and street-smart writing style, Pamela Allegretto scores five stars from this author for her light-hearted, cozy mystery. “Ashes and Ashes, Diamonds to Dust” is just the right read in these stay-at-home times, and I guarantee that by adding Pamela Allegretto, her art, her writing, and her generous spirit to your days and nights, yours will be happier life.

 

Pamela Allegretto introduces us to her book as follows: “Venice sets the stage for a diamond caper gone wrong, where everyone is someone else, and no one can be trusted.

During her Venetian trip to participate in an international art exhibition, Carla Romano brings along her deceased friend’s ashes. But is that all she has in her tote bag? The FBI, Venetian police, and a gaggle of misfits believe otherwise. Five-million-dollars in stolen diamonds are expected to be unloaded in Venice, and Carla is the suspected bag lady.

Slipping into designer shoes and donning her sleuth-in-training-cap, Carla sets out in a city of secrets that everyone knows, to solve a diamond caper with more twists and turns than the Venetian labyrinth of narrow streets and canals.”©

 

Purchase link to “Ashes to Ashes, Diamonds to Dust”: https://www.amazon.com/Ashes-Diamonds-Dust-Pamela-Allegretto-ebook/dp/B085GKH97M/      

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