Fans of April Smith's Ana Grey series will find much to enjoy in this fourth novel to feature the FBI agent; the book also stands well on its own and won't leave readers new to Smith's work feeling lost. The intriguingly twisty story begins in London, where Grey is on leave with her brooding, complicated lover, Sterling, who performs covert missions for a shadowy outfit named Oryx. After getting caught in what appears to be a gang hit outside an Italian restaurant, Ana is immediately sent by the FBI to Siena, Italy, to meet Cecilia Nicosa, the half-sister Ana never knew she had. The FBI's not after a family reunion--they want Ana to investigate Cecilia's husband, Nicoli, a wealthy coffee mogul whose Mafia mistress has recently disappeared, the victim of a lupara bianca ("white shotgun") murder.
Things get even more complicated after Ana's arrival. Nicoli is deeply involved with the Mafia; Cecilia, a doctor who has just had a retaliatory affair with the corrupt chief of police, is paying pizzo (Mafia extortion) to keep her clinics open; and the couple's 16-year-old son, Giovanni, is savagely beaten and left to die. To further muddy the waters, Siena is about to host Il Palio, a horse race going back centuries that pits the various districts in the area against each other. Then Cecilia disappears.
Smith manages to tie abundant plot threads together without sacrificing pace or credulity, weaving in richly detailed descriptions of Italy's traditions, language, people, and landscapes. Smith also has a deft touch with her characters; even the minor players here have a measure of depth and dimension. --Debra Ginsberg, author