2 stars. More tedium as Emily and her ‘gang’ run around Pompeii trying to solve a murder. They have inserted themselves into the investigation after the local police declare it solved. Of course that is not good enough for our intrepid band of busybodies; led by the increasingly stupid Emily. There are secrets and many characters with inscrutable motives as everyone talks, talks, drinks tea, talks until I was asleep. The mystery was easily solved early in the book, as the characters continued to run around like dunces; ignoring clues so we can get another description of a fresco or a villa or something that has taken Tasha’s fancy in her research. The ending tied in with the alternating chapters, which I ignored so I had no clue of the reasons it was supposed to make sense. As always, the notes at the end were much more entertaining than the actual book. Two stars and only because Tasha restrained herself to just one little mention of a female archaeologist in Egypt (hello Amelia Peabody-see you in book sixteen); and now on to book fifteen.