Does The Italy Affair refer to international intrigue or romantic entanglement? For Maggie, it may be both.

Four years after her adventures with The War Council, UC Berkeley Professor Maggie McGrew's professional life couldn't be better. In addition to teaching communication studies, Maggie has added consulting gigs with Silicon Valley tech companies and a successful book to her resume.

Her personal life is another story. Feeling a bit at loose ends, Maggie accepts her friend (and former War Council comrade) Monique's invitation to join her as one of the university representatives on an alumni association tour of the "Art Towns of Northern Italy." There, she discovers a region filled with beautiful art, amazing food, a variety of dogs, and an abundance of Aperol spritzes-not to mention a mysterious painting hidden in a corner of a botanical garden and maybe, just maybe, love.

The Italy Affair is the second book in the University Chronicles series. Like The War Council, it offers a humorous look at life and love, this time amid all the romance of a trip to Italy.