The Wonder Chamber: A Lizzie Manning Mystery

Malloy’s charming, if lightweight, third Lizzie Manning mystery (after 2011’s Paradise Walk) takes the St. Patrick’s College professor from Boston to Bologna, Italy, to catalogue and identify Renaissance artifacts belonging to the family of the college’s late principal benefactor, Prince Lorenzo Gonzaga, for St. Pat’s centenary exhibit. Lizzie finds the Gonzago palazzo chockablock with so much—everything from dried sea horses to Etruscan toy soldiers—it’s hard to decide what to tag for display. Meanwhile, she must contend with the patriarch, Lorenzo’s son Patrick—a crusty, dotty nonagenarian, who refuses to allow anything to be moved from its dusty place in the house. Excerpts from letters written by Lorenzo’s American wife, Maggie, point to sinister doings during WWII. Fans of Renaissance trivia will enjoy Malloy’s extensive expository passages, but mystery buffs will be disappointed with the book’s feeble obstacles, lax tension, and subpar conclusion. (Jan.)