Name: The Italian Secret
Author: Tara Moss

The Italian Secret is the third thrilling instalment in Tara Moss’ action-packed historical Billie Walker PI Mysteries. I explain why this is a must-read series.

The Italian Secret (Billie Walker Mystery #3) - Tara Moss

Publication: HarperCollins Australia, August 2025. Scheduled for publication worldwide in December 2025.

Genre: Crime-Detective, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Romance, Action-Adventure, Thriller

The Italian Secret Publisher Synopsis

A Billie Walker Mystery #3, an immersive post-war mystery as this glamorous investigator follows a trail of secrets to Italy’s sun-drenched Neapolitan coast.

Naples, 1943. Deep within a secret network of underground tunnels, a woman takes shelter from a wartime air raid and prays her husband will return safely.

Pacific Ocean, 1907. A young woman embarks on a lonely journey to begin a new life far from home.

Sydney, 1948. Billie Walker, recently returned from a stint as a wartime investigative journalist, has reopened her father’s private inquiry office. Billie is cleaning out old filing cabinets when she uncovers a dusty box whose contents just might upend everything Billie thought she knew about her late, beloved father.

Soon Billie is on the scent, uncovering the secrets of her family’s past, travelling aboard the first postwar luxury passenger ship from Sydney to Naples in search of answers. And as the trail leads her toward two women whose history is entwined with her own, she realises she is not the only one at risk. Billie’s father had an enemy – one who may now be stalking Billie around the world – and the closer Billie gets to the truth, the more danger she finds herself in.

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My Review

Tara Moss releasing a new novel is something I really get excited about.

Why? It’s more than the wonderfully resilient, feisty and diverse female characters she writes, the loyal, dashing men of substance drawn into their orbits, and the guarantee of some genuinely heart-pounding action sequences. It’s her crisp, clear writing style imbued with attitude and intelligence — it makes the reading experience effortlessly entertaining, and historical mystery enthusiasts confident they are in safe hands.

‘What is it you are reading?’ Alma asked.
‘Hemingway is his name,’ Billy said, turning the tome over in her hands. ‘Martha Gellhorn’s ex-husband.’ The brilliant war correspondent and only woman journalist present at D-Day. ‘It’s quite good.’
‘I’ve heard of it, I think.’

This Billie Walker PI historical mystery series, currently comprised of The War Widow (Book 1), The Ghosts of Paris (Book 2) and now The Italian Secret (Book 3), is particularly engaging as its post WWII setting is a rich tapestry of lingering societal upheaval, e.g. war wounds, gender roles and multicultural tensions. And, the fabulous Ms Billie Walker is a lady not easily cowered, and rather inclined to pull on a few threads just to see what might unravel…

Billie leaned away to avoid what she could of his breath. She knew precisely the kind of woman she was.Whether she was his idea of a ’lady’ was irrelevant.
Then another idea evidently floated into the sodden waters of Mr Elliott’s brain, and he grabbed it as a man on the verge of drowning might grab a piece flotsam.

.

After gushing over Book 1 and thoroughly enjoying Book 2, I did wonder how Moss would keep the energy levels and romantic tension high in The Italian Secret, particularly while Billie was cloistered away on a historically accurate lengthy cruise from Sydney to Naples for a large part of it, but she pulls it off.

And upon arrival, neither her immersive, captivating depiction of both the beauty and destruction in post-war Naples, or the emotionally impactful Italian war experience and its linkage to her family, slowed down the story.

While not quite worthy of 5-stars, purely because I put the clues together a little earlier than was ideal, Tara Moss’ The Italian Secret is an uncommonly strong third-novel-in-a-series; a bestselling series that has a wonderful ensemble cast primed to take us on many more tales yet, I hope!

Yes, The Italian Secret can be read as a standalone. But honestly, you’d be mad not to start with Book 1 The War Widow (read my review) and take the full journey with Tara Moss’ indomitable Ms Billie Walker.