Rick Montoya has moved from New Mexico to Rome, embracing the life of a translator. He’s settling into la dolce vita when a school friend, who is now senior in the Italian Art Squad, recruits Rick for an unofficial undercover role. But before the sun sets on Rick’s first full day in Volterra, a gallery employee dies in a brutal fall from a high cliff.

The local Commissario and his team consider Rick an amateur, and worse, a foreigner. And now they suspect him of foul play. Has Rick’s undercover role made him a target in more ways than one?

‘Wagner hits all the right notes in this debut.’ - Library Journal

‘Going against a popular stereotype, Cold Tuscan Stone has far less violence and mayhem than many American stories that involve Italian criminals. More people end up eating fishes than sleeping with them.’ - The Pueblo Chieftain