No Place Like Rome

No Place Like Rome (2013) is the third in author Julie Moffett’s ongoing mystery and romance series about cybersecurity expert and white-hat hacker Lexi Carmichael. Narrated from the protagonist’s point of view, the novels are funny in tone and lighthearted in subject matter despite the ostensibly serious aspects of cybercrime they tackle. The series falls into the cozy mystery side of the genre, eschewing graphic violence. In this novel, the main character tries to untangle a money-laundering scheme that connects nefarious factions in the Vatican’s bank and a family whose ancestor was the executor of the estate of Leonardo da Vinci.

Twenty-five-year-old Lexi Carmichael is an expert in computer security whose math and programming skills have seen her career soar through a stint at the US government's National Security Agency to her current position as a good-guy hacker for X-Corp, a private intelligence and security company. X-Corp is run by Finn, one of the several men who find Lexi attractive and desirable—though in this case, the possibility of romance is tempered by their employer/employee power dynamic.

While her professional life is firing on all cylinders, Lexi’s personal life is slightly complicated by her Asperger’s syndrome. Often, she has trouble decoding the subtle social cues that enable communication for neurotypical people. Much of the novel’s humor comes from either readers understanding the intentions of another character through Lexi’s perspective when she doesn’t, or from the misunderstandings that occur as a result. Well aware of her social deficits, Lexi is herself quite amused in retrospect when something goes awry.



When the novel opens, Lexi’s mysterious friend Slash, a fellow hacker and former coworker, hires her to come with him to Rome on an investigation. Slash’s uncle, the Director-General for the Vatican Bank, is under suspicion of stealing 18 million Euros, though he staunchly denies any wrongdoing, claiming the bank’s computer systems were compromised from outside. Slash needs Lexi’s objective eye to solve the case because he is too emotionally close to the situation. As a bonus, the trip means flying to Rome on a private jet and staying in luxury hotels.

Lexi finds Slash confusing. On the one hand, he is very sexy and seems to kiss and hug her at every opportunity. He also leaves roses on her pillow when he is suddenly called away. On the other hand, the effusive physical affection seems to just be an Italian thing—and if he really were serious, wouldn’t he tell her his real name? Nevertheless, the overly demonstrative culture of Italy is a great place for Lexi, who finds it much easier to interpret the attitudes of Slash’s family members, like his warm and welcoming grandmother.

The case seems to break wide open when a bank employee is found dead and Lexi finds a highly encrypted file on the man’s computer. No matter how hard she and Slash try, they can’t figure out how to hack into it. Lexi decides to call for backup, inviting several fellow hackers to join them: the brilliant Elvis and Xavier, the Zimmerman twins, and Lexi’s best friend, Basia, an Italian translator. Finally, the group penetrates the encryption, but the more pieces they put together, the clearer it is that the murder and theft are just a small part of a much larger, more confusing conspiracy.



While the investigation is going on, Lexi and Basia try to figure out how to navigate Lexi’s love life. However complex the situation with Slash was at the beginning of the novel, it’s nothing compared to how awkward the group becomes when the twins show up—Elvis also finds her romantically appealing and is a very devoted and dear friend. And of course, in the back of her mind are her experiences with Finn, with whom she almost had sex before his parents unexpectedly interrupted them. Lexi has no idea which man is best for her, but in this novel, her attraction to Slash takes precedence over her other romantic prospects. However, the novel often reminds the reader how little Lexi really knows Slash through a running gag: Lexi and Slash keep meeting people who know him, each of whom calls him by a different name—none of them his real one.

Eventually, the group puts together enough clues to recognize that what they are really investigating is a centuries-old secret that could change the world as we know it. This knowledge leads them to a creepy set of catacombs that contain the resting place of the Melzi family, famous because the Renaissance painter Francesco Melzi—a real historical figure—ended up the executor for the estate of Leonardo da Vinci. However improbably, inside his tomb might lie the recipe for the cure to a disease whose description and symptoms sound remarkably close to AIDS.

The problem is they aren’t in the catacombs alone, having been followed by the evil Bianca, the sociopathic mastermind of the plot. Unwilling to have them discover the recipe, or even to learn whether it exists, Bianca plants a bomb inside the tomb. Lexi is faced with a terrible choice: kill Bianca to get to the tomb in time to look through its contents or save her friends from the explosion. Lexi chooses to save her friends, and Bianca is crushed to death after the bomb goes off.



The novel ends with Lexi and Slash recovering from their injuries together. He finally tells her his real name: Romeo.