The Columbus Citizens Foundation and Italian American Museum of New York City are sponsoring a celebration of the De Cenza Murder Mystery series by Italian-American author Arthur Cola. The event will be taking place on the evening of Friday, September 24th at the Columbus Citizens Foundation building located at 8 E. 69th St. in New York City across from Central Park.

It will begin with a Cocktail Hour followed by a presentation by the author of his series with an emphasis on "Murder at the World's Fair" which is set in 1960's New York City and then a question and answer session with the author. Within a historic setting of another era you will see and hear about the author's books and screenplays adapted from them. For complete details contact Lisa at [email protected]. 

Like the author, the stories of the De Cenza Murder Mysteries begin in the heartland of America (Chicago) in the 1960's. The central character, Ron De Cenza, the only son of an Italian-American Family, announces that he intends to become a priest to the horror of his father. Nevertheless off he goes to the Abbey to study Latin, the language of the Church with his best pal. No sooner does he arrive than he finds himself being ogled by one of the Monks, saving the life of another Monk and having his vocation tested by the girl in the gift shop. All of these events leads him into a situation in which he becomes the prime suspect in a Murder in the Abbey.

The next adventure, Murder at the World's Fair, finds Ron and his pal Bob working at the Vatican Pavilion along with that girl, Susan Liguri, who fancies Ron and to whom he is drawn. The three become sleuths to prevent the heist of the century while trying to find a missing body to prove a murder.

In the third adventure, Murder in the Vatican, Ron and Bob are studying at the Apostolic College when they witness a brutal attack along the Tiber River and just afterwards meet up with Susan and Ron's sister, Jan, who have come over to Rome to study at the University. They soon find themselves on a chase across Italy and into the Alps, Hitchcock style, in an effort to reveal a truth about an event which took place in Italy just after World War II, solve one murder and prevent another murder in the process.

In the fourth installment, Murder in Mellifont, the four have become a team of seven and are research assistants to a Professor from Oxford University. They travel from Rome to Ireland to find the Holy Grail of Ireland, the St. Malachy Chalice. What was to begin with a visit to ancient ruins ends up with a murder being committed and the victim dying in the arms of Ron De Cenza.

The fifth adventure, "Murder on Capri" is soon to be published. The tale will take you back to Italy onto the romantic Isle of Capri where they stumble upon the naked body of a dead man in the famous Blue Grotto. This leads them to a discovery connected to the legend of Napoleon's brother, Joseph Bonaparte from the days when he was King of Spain and King of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies and his escape to America.