Murder in Hand (Conrad)

Murder in Hand  (Alicia Allen Investigates Trilogy, 3)
Celia Conrad, 2012
Barcham Books
352 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780954623340


Summary
This third book in the Alicia Allen Investigates Trilogy finds Alicia Allen—the half-Italian/half-British London solicitor with such a passion for justice it would make even Portia envious—sleuthing with her adoring cohort and fellow lawyer, Alex Waterford, in this tangled mystery of corruption on both sides of the law that spans England, New York, Sicily and mainland Italy.

When Fabio Angelino shows up in Alicia's office, the Italian American not only asks her to handle the Probate of his mother's English estate, but reveals that someone has been trying to kill him—perhaps the same person responsible for his lawyer father's disappearance in Sicily 16 years ago while working for a New York firm. The Italian police suspect the Mafia, but Fabio’s father’s death remains unsolved. Alicia and Alex have developed a comfortable relationship, and he urges her not to get too involved for her own safety.

However, when Fabio's sister, Guilia, is found callously murdered, Alicia feels compelled to investigate. Her quest takes her from England to Sicily and Italy over beautiful, but sinister, terrain as she finds herself pulled into an underworld where the most dangerous and corrupt criminals are those who hide behind the law.

Alicia’s Italian heritage comes to the surface as she looks for clues hidden in Italian Probate law, culture and Puccini. But in her bid to entrap the killer or killers, has Alicia Allen finally taken on malevolent forces too great, and will this be her last investigation? (From the publisher.)

This is the final book in the Alicia Allen Investigates Trilogy. A Model Murder (2011) is the first, and Wilful Miurder (2011) is the second.