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"On her sixtieth birthday, Auntie Poldi retires to Sicily, intending to while away the rest of her days with good wine, a view of the sea, and few visitors. But Sicily isn't quite the tranquil island she thought it would be, and something always seems to get in the way of her relaxation. When her handsome young handyman goes missing--and is discovered murdered--she can't help but ask questions. Soon there's an investigation, a smoldering police inspector, a romantic entanglement, one false lead after another, a rooftop showdown, and finally, of course, Poldi herself, slightly tousled but still perfectly poised."-- "For fans of A Man Called Ove and the novels of Adriana Trigiani: a charming, delightfully sexy, and bighearted novel starring Auntie Poldi, Sicily's newest amateur sleuth"--… (more)
User reviews
I’m sure other authors have used Giordano’s trick of telling us what to expect in
I suspend complete approbation of the series until a few more are published. I hope this is a winner!
**I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review from LibraryThing's Early Reviewers programs. **
She promptly makes connections, one of those is a young man who would like
The story was exactly like an Italian story should be "sweet, salty, bitter, smooth - hitting all the notes". Very enjoyable and from the way the book ends a possibility of more Auntie Poldi stories.
What a great read! As soon as I poked my nose into this book it held on and made me finish it in one day! Auntie Poldi is wonderful with her towering black wigs,
I originally won an uncorrected proof in a LibraryThing Giveaway, had some problems with sight reading, then saw that it would soon be on audio, so I bought it. I actually prefer narrated books when I suspect that I would screw up the other language's pronunciations. Matt Addis is really super at narrating this one and I hope that he will be doing the others.
The book is narrated by her nephew, an inspiring writer, who weaves an
Poldi is a glamorous figure, always ready to make a dramatic entrance and the locals can either take her or leave with no middle ground.
When Valentino, her handyman, is missing she makes it her job to find him. Unfortunately, she does find his dead body on her local beach. Regardless of words of caution from the police, she continues to find his murderer.
Here is hoping this book is truly the first in the series of Aunti Poldi's murder mysteries.
The novel is narrated by Poldi’s nephew, a struggling writer. This was the where the story begin to strain credulity for me. The nephew describes her thoughts (often quite witty),what she sees, and even her romantic trysts. Granted, my nephews don’t occasionally board in my attic, but I can’t imagine them knowing such details about my day to day life. The mystery itself was an adequate one, the sort that you might find in a cozy series with a few too many coincidences to be believable but you enjoy anyway because you love the characters and it offers a wonderful escape. It was a rather small part of the novel. Much space was devoted to character development for almost every character, however minor their role may be and creating atmosphere. Aunt Poldi and the Sicilian Lions was originally written in German, and I would guess that much of its charm was lost in translation. I felt like there was subtle humor and cultural references I might have appreciated more if I were more familiar with German and Sicilian cultures.
I don’t anticipate that I will seek out the second installment of Auntie Poldie’s adventures, but if you want to, I believe it is already out in the UK. The German covers are my favorite!
Some of my series recommendations:
Cozy series, not necessarily mysteries: Everything by Alexander McCall Smith, Miss Julia by Ann B Ross, An Irish Country Doctor series by Patrick Taylor, and Needlework Mysteries by Monica Ferris
Set in Italy: Commisario Brunetti by Donna Leon and Inspector Montalbano by Andrea Camilleri
I’d love to find more -feel free to comment!
Fun, light read with
The gist of the story
I really tried.
by Mario Giordano, John Brownjohn (Translation) 3 ★
Auntie Poldi, a Bavarian widow, is a quirky character who survives on "escapades, entanglements" and excitement.
"On her sixtieth birthday, Auntie Poldi retires to Sicily, intending to while away
The disappearance and subsequent murder of her young handyman Valentino, begins a series of adventures imbued with alcohol and Poldi's lusty vigor.
Isolde is not my favorite heroine but she definitely was a unique comedic character.
You can't help but laugh frequently and I'm sure her adventures will have a loyal following.
Auntie Poldi and the Fruits of the Lord (Auntie Poldi, #2)
follows.
Already familiar with Sicily from Andrea Camilleri's Inspector Montalbano mysteries, I enjoyed reading a mystery
Giordano's setting is good, so is the mystery, and the food is mouthwatering. There are flashes of humor throughout the book, especially where they concern the mishaps Poldi has with her wig.
This first book in a series is good but for me, the story didn't really shine. I don't know if this is due to the translation or awkwardness because the nephew tells us the story secondhand. What I do know is that I'll be reading the next book in the series to see what happens next.
Meh. It wasn't bad or great; it had it's moments, but while I
The mystery was good though; I didn't see the solution coming at all and it held my attention when the MC failed to.
I read this for space #19 as the cover is easily 50% blue.
She tells the story to her nephew Giordano, who actually wants to write a family epic and is still in his infancy with his great-grandfather.
The Bavarian language is the charm of this cozy reading. I will certainly read the other books too.
Auntie Poldi, a sixty year old Bavarian woman, has recently retired from her job as a costume designer. Despite having lived forever in Munich, she decides that she wants to be closer to her sisters-in-law in Sicily and so she finds and purchases a crumbling home there. Her plan is to drink herself to death in the warmth of the sun near the ocean but her nephew Giordano, a frustrated writer floundering with his ever changing family history novel, is dispatched to live on and off with Poldi to keep an eye on her. More than keeping an eye on his eccentric aunt though, he narrates the story of Poldi's at first accidental and then intentional involvement in a murder with all of the chaos, theories, danger, and uncomfortable situations that accompany that involvement. As Poldi is a personable and caring woman, she collects friends and acquaintances in her new home, including the handsome, young Valentino Candela, a handyman who helps out around her dilapidated house. When Valentino goes missing, Poldi is concerned, and more so when no one else seems to blink an eye at his disappearance. Then she stumbles on his body on the beach and vows to uncover his murderer. This brings her in direct opposition to the official investigator, Vito Montana, to whom Poldi has an immediate attraction despite his seeming indifference to her and his explicit warning to her to stay out of his investigation. But Poldi has some theories and she's determined to follow them up and find out the truth.
Poldi is a quirky, feisty character. She is generally confident and self-assured both sexually and intellectually but she also has moments of definite faltering and self-doubt. She can be a figure of fun (constantly setting her wig straight) but there's never any doubt that she'll eventually find out what she wants to know. Her relationship with Montana is well developed and the personal and professional tension between them moves along at a good pace. The search for Valentino's murderer is as much a search for the motive as much as it is for the killer. The setting was very well done; the reader could easily visualize both the beauty and the seediness of Sicily and while there were occasional info dumps about the history of the island, they were ultimately significant to the search for the murderer. Giordano, the author (as opposed to the nephew narrating the story), explains the general Sicilian character nicely without resorting to cliche and then personalizes each of his carefully created characters. The story did take some time to get moving, building Poldi's past and her family's worry for her, as well as establishing the character of the town and the people in it, but once Valentino's body appears on the beach, the story picks up, even when Poldi runs into dead ends or has to reassess her theories. There is a dry humor here and the language is perhaps a little more literary than usual so it's not a book to breeze through. But the setting is sublime, the characters are engaging, and the mystery unfolds so that the reader only comes to figure out whodunit when Poldi herself does. A promising start to a series for mystery readers who like a little flamboyance and a little foreignness in their mystery reading.
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833.92 |