Last Testament in Bologna (Daniel Leicester Book 5) by Tom Benjamin

Book Blurb
When an old man makes a bequest to investigate the mysterious death of his son, English detective Daniel Leicester follows a trail leading to one of Bologna’s wealthiest families – makers of some of the world’s most coveted supercars. He soon discovers that beneath the glitz and glamour of the Formula One circuit lurk certain people, with sinister interests, who may just be prepared to kill to keep their secrets. Time and tide wait for no man – or woman – and while biology obliges one of Faidate Investigations’ team to finally undergo a long-delayed operation, history catches up with another. Shadowing a suspect along one of Bologna’s blood-red porticoes or mixing with the glitterati in the paddock at Imola, the English detective comes to learn in Italy the past not only has a long tail, but its sting can be deadly.

My Review
You all know by now my love of Italy and obsessions for books set there, so I was very grateful to Little Brown Books and Anne Cater for inviting me to be part of the blog tour for Last Testament in Bologna. My other passion in life is Formula 1, so I was exctited to read that this book was set in the world of F1, a perfect combination for me. Daniel and his father in law the Comandante find themselves employed by the estate of a recently deceased client in finding out if his son, a talented racing driver, was murdered rather than his death being an accident. This takes them to one of Italy’s top F1 teams and the glamour and glitz of the circuits, that maybe not all that it seems.

The Last Testament of Bologna is the fifth book in the Daniel Leicester series, but it can be read as a standalone; I have only read the previous book in this series and I don’t feel that I have lost anything from not reading the previous books. I really like Daniel as a character, he is living in Italy, bringing up his daughter after the death of his wife, and Tom Benjamin perfects the balance of Daniel as a private detective and as part of a large Italian family. It his interactions with his family that fascinates me the most. Italians are all about family and in Daniel’s case he works and lives with his wife’s family, which works well. I did smile at Daniel’s relationship with his seventeen year old daughter, especially when he has to pick her and a friend up from a party. All of the characters in this book were beatifully written, with their own stories to tell and they felt real, I really felt I knew them so well.

Tom Benjamin’s plot kept me immersed in this book, the setting of Formula 1 with it’s winning at any cost idea and the machinations going on behind the garage doors. There were so many suspects who would have wanted Fabri, the up and coming driver, dead, for jealousy for money or for personal reasons, or could it be just an accident as previously thought. What I love about Tom Benjamin’s writing is the detail he includes, the descriptions of Bologna were full of vitality and I felt I was genuinely walking or driving the streets with Daniel; it is the same detail that make his characters so real. These books work for me as I love the juxtaposition of work and family life, how the two do sometimes merge, and the different factions within the group.

I was completely immersed in Last Testament in Bologna to the point I didn’t want to put it down. The investigation was compelling in that I found myself changing my mind over wether I thought Fabri was murdered or if he just had an unfortunate accident. The characters felt comfortable and familiar, and with the added family dynamics there was an added fascination. Brilliantly crafted, I loved this book and really need to read the rest of the series.