If you like the idea of sailing around the Tyrrhenian sea on a private yacht, visiting the islands of Ischia, Lipari, Taormina and Capri as the guest of a world-famous portrait painter who is also a British secret agent, you will love Roman Nights. Because this is the latest of the Dolly novels – Dorothy Dunnett’s humorous crime series - the voyage is not the dreamy idyll its itinerary suggests. This is an action thriller with hand-to-hand fighting, bacchanalian carousing and a passionate love story. The background to the adventure is the changing sea and the beauty of the islands.
Like all Dunnett’s humorous novels, Roman Nights is narrated by a brave and clever young woman who aims to solve a crime which has hurt someone she loves. Ruth Russell is an astronomer who studies the stars from the Maurice Frazer Observatory in Rome. She lives with Charles Digham, a fashion photographer who works with top models like sultry Diana Minicucci. When Charles’ camera, containing pictures of the new season’s designs, is stolen at the zoo, he and Ruth chase the thief and find him in the toletta - minus his head. At first it looks as if competition between couture houses is getting out of hand. Then Johnson Johnson, who is in Rome to paint a portrait of the Pope, makes it clear that more is at stake than the latest skirt lengths.
After Ruth and Johnson Johnson find hidden messages with details and times of future meetings, fashionistas from Charles’ world mix with scientists and academics from Ruth’s to pursue the mysterious villains across the waves. Along the way they find time to sightsee, party and dress to kill. Roman Nights is packed from start to finish with wit, action and red herrings. It was first published in 1973, so when Ruth sets out on her adventures, she cannot rely on technology to get her out of trouble. I think this adds to the suspense in the story.