Why Siena?
Book number four in the Armstrong and Oscar mystery series Is set in the beautiful Tuscan city of Siena. For many years back in the Middle Ages, Siena was more important and wealthier than its neighbour Florence, until the arrival of the Black Death in 1348 killed a third of the population and wiped out much of the city’s talent and wealth in the space of a few months. What remains is a delightful old walled city built for the most part with sun bleached bricks. In the centre of the town is an unevenly shaped square sloping down towards a magnificent tower. This square, the Piazza del Campo, is where the world-famous Palio horse races take place every year. It’s a wonderful place for a tourist to visit but, as readers will find out, it’s a wonderful place for a murder as well.
So why did I pick Siena?
Many years ago I had the great good fortune to live and work in Tuscany and during the years that I lived there I developed a lasting bond with the region and that has stayed with me to this day. Florence, of course, is the big name but there are so many other beautiful cities to be seen and Siena is just one of them.
Most of the action in Murder in Siena actually takes place outside the city in a country hotel where a scientific symposium is taking place. Dan and his now girlfriend, Anna, are on holiday for a few days when a gruesome murder takes place which, at first sight, appears to have been the work of a pack of wolves.
When I was researching the book, I discovered to my amazement that Tuscany has just about the largest population of wolves of any region anywhere in Western Europe. And these aren’t wolves that have been reintroduced. They have always been there and they were almost wiped out last century by hunters, but now that they have protected status, they are once more on the increase.
My first reaction to making this discovery was probably the same as that of most readers. Isn’t it dangerous to live near wolves? As the scientists in the book explain, the answer is a resounding no unless you happen to be a sheep, a chicken or occasionally a domestic pet. Wolves are highly intelligent creatures and over the centuries they have worked out that man is their greatest enemy and so they stay clear of us at all costs.
In writing about this region I have also drawn on more recent experience of a visit to an “agriturismo” in the hills to the south of Siena that I made with my wife before the pandemic. You maybe have already heard of these places and I heartily recommend them if you are visiting Italy. The ones to look out for working farms where are you know you’re going to get local produce which the Italians call “genuino”. We stayed in a completely rustic environment where the estate produced its own wine, olive oil and fruit. There was an open-air restaurant there where we ate every night and as the sun went down there wasn’t a single light to be seen anywhere around the horizon. Although Tuscany is a sought-after tourist destination, it also has vast swathes of unspoiled countryside to enjoy.
It is also a wonderful area for a Labrador, and Oscar, Dan’s constant companion, spends many happy hours charging through the woods, picking up sticks and pinecones for Dan to throw for him. This is no doubt so as to show Dan that he has inherited the Labrador retriever gene as well as their notorious gluttony gene.
I hope the story manages to bamboozle you as much as it did my wife. She reads all my books and when I gave her the first three quarters of the book to read, she reappeared questioning whether I stood any chance at all of identifying the murderer myself, let alone the readers. I trust that I have managed to do this satisfactorily but, please, as always do let me know your thoughts. I read every review that I get and I can honestly say I have learnt from many of them.
Many thanks for reading this and many thanks if you decide to read the book or, indeed, any of my other books.
Trevor
You can pick up Trevor’s brand new cozy mystery here: https://mybook.to/murderinsienasocial