Murder in Rome is the 15th (!!!) Armstrong and Oscar destination cozy mystery by T.A. Williams. Released 2nd May 2026 by Boldwood books, it's 258 pages and is available in hardcover, paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free. The other books in the series, are also currently available on KU.
This is a beautifully descriptive and well written destination mystery set in the outskirts of Rome. Expat former policeman Dan Armstrong and his trusty Labrador sidekick Oscar are enlisted to investigate the murder of the stratospherically wealthy uncle of a TV celebrity. It's a very limited suspect pool, comprised chiefly of his generally unlikable inner circle/family living in and attached to the palazzo where he died. Armstrong's insights are valuable and he is attuned to otherwise hidden motivations.
The plotting is solid and the dialogue and characterizations are well controlled and believable. The mystery, denouement, and resolution are self contained in this volume, so it works well enough as a standalone, but the writing and mystery are so well planned and executed, that it would make an excellent very long binge or buddy read.
It's not derivative at all, but it reminded me in a lot of good ways of Leon's exceptional Brunetti books as well as Walker's lovely Bruno, chief of police books. Fans of those authors will find a lot to enjoy here.
Four and a half stars. Highly recommended.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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