Le Corps dans un Bateau à Brenzone [The Body in a Boat at Brenzone]

I’ll admit, I side-eyed the ‘cozy’ label at first—*The Body in a Boat at Brenzone* opens with a corpse in a *barca*, which isn’t exactly teacup territory. But Ashbourne’s mystery is cozy in the best sense: it’s *intimate*. The victim isn’t a stranger; they’re part of the fabric of Brenzone, and the investigation forces Kim (and us) to peel back layers of loyalty, lies, and *la dolce vita*’s darker undercurrents. The plot hinges on a cleverly hidden clue—one that, in hindsight, was staring me in the face like a misplaced bottle of grappa. I loved how the solution ties into Italian cultural quirks (a subplot about inherited olive groves had me Googling property laws at 2 a.m.). Ouellet’s narration is mostly stellar—her Kim is a perfect blend of exasperated competence and reluctant charm, and she nails the secondary characters, from the smarmy *carabiniere* to the nonna who knows *everything*. My only gripe? The audio mixing occasionally muffles her lower register during outdoor scenes (a lakefront confrontation sounded like it was recorded in a wind tunnel). And while the pacing is generally tight, the mid-act detour into Kim’s personal life feels like a speed bump in an otherwise sleek ride. Still, the payoff—a confrontation in a storm-lashed *piazza*—is worth the wait. If you crave mysteries where the setting is as vivid as the suspects, and where the detective’s wit is as sharp as her knife for cutting *proscuitto*, this is your next listen.