A review by gadrake
My Italian Bulldozer by Alexander McCall Smith

3.0

Surprising adventures await Paul Stuart who slips away to Italy to find time to complete a writing deadline. Paul is a revered food and wine writer from Scotland. Living mainly in obscurity as he writes magazine articles, he becomes quite popular after his new editor, Gloria, discovers a successful formula for writing books on the same subjects. He currently has a mental block though.

After an ego humbling breakup with his longtime girlfriend, Paul is eager to get away to Italy. At the airport, his car reservation never materializes and a bulldozer becomes his transportation of choice. Thus begins a series of comic mishaps.

Romantic complications emerge as the ex-girlfriend, his smitten editor, and a certain lovely American artist vie for his attention. His experiences with an escaped convict, a priest who take matters into their own hands, and a depressed vintner add up to a lot of humor. This is an amusing lightly romantic, entertaining novel.