Auntie Poldi and the Lost Madonna

March 16, 2020
Giordano’s enjoyable third Auntie Poldi novel picks right up where 2019’s Auntie Poldi and the Vineyards of Etna left off, with a surprise visit from Poldi’s estranged Tanzanian husband, John Owenya. John has come to Sicily to investigate the disappearance of his half-brother, which is connected to the title’s handsome Antonio. Poldi, John, and Poldi’s current flame, Chief Insp. Vito Montana, set out to find Antonio, and are presented with plenty of candidates, all handsome and all named Antonio. Poldi, a 60-something Bavarian with a penchant for wigs, is soon crammed into a Maserati and on the run from a possible Mafia hit, along with her ne’er-do-well nephew (the unnamed narrator), her brother-in-law, and a flatulent dog, as they take a grand tour of the Sicilian back roads. The plot is thinner than in the two previous installments, but the prose remains sharp, the humor pointed, and Poldi—a whirlwind of sexual bravado and confidence—shines. Readers will hope to see a lot more of her. Agent: Jason Bartholomew, BKS Agency (U.K.).

March 1, 2020
Dreams of a sweet Sicilian retirement are dashed for a Munich matron when her ex turns up and entices her into a murder investigation. The story opens at a moment of high drama: A shady character known as Handsome Antonio is holding a fish cleaver up to the throat of beloved Auntie Poldi. The witness and chronicler of this scene is her nephew, an aspiring writer who's the gregarious first-person narrator of her adventures (Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lion, 2018, etc.). Antonio wants, and assumes that Poldi has, "it!" But before the reader can learn what "it" is, the story flashes back to a visit Poldi receives from her Tanzanian ex-husband, John Owenya, whom she thought she was well rid of. Not only does this put a crimp in her budding relationship with Vito Montana; John's half brother, Thomas, has disappeared, presumably on the run from the Mafia. Given her reputation as a detective, it's no wonder that John wants Poldi's help. The only clue left behind is a card with the name "Handsome Antonio" and a 12-digit number printed on it. And so the game is afoot, Poldi's heedless headlong sleuthing (she rides a Vespa) chafing against her nephew's long-winded timidity. The murder of Thomas raises the stakes but doesn't darken the tone of this comic caper. There's no dearth of banter, chases, and narrow escapes. A dash of zest comes from capsule descriptions of the narrative at the beginning of each chapter. Giordano's third Auntie Poldi mystery is frothy, if forgettable, fun. Mrs. Pollifax would be proud.

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March 1, 2020
In her third adventure (after Auntie Poldi and the Vineyards of Etna, 2019), former secret agent Poldi looks to enjoy her retirement in Sicily and a new romance with detective Vito Montana, only to have her plans disrupted by the arrival of John Owenya, her Tanzanian ex-husband. Poldi left Owenya after she discovered his extra family, but now he's back, shamelessly requesting her help. His half-brother, Thomas, has stolen a briefcase from a ruthless Tanzanian gangster, and Owenya has traced Thomas to Sicily. But Sicily has its own share of gangsters, and after Thomas' body is found sans package, the bad guys lean in: it's the briefcase, or Poldi's family. So Poldi and her nephew (our narrator) chase the elusive briefcase through picturesque villages, trailed by a mysterious Mob figure known only as Handsome Antonio. Along the way, encounters with a Finnish death-metal band, a giant Flemish rabbit, and an alluring traffic cop guide them toward their bounty and the answers to life's greatest mysteries. Wildly clever and delightfully absurd, Giordano's latest is a sure bet for fans of Christopher Moore's Pine Cove adventures.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

May 1, 2021
Nephew (last seen in Auntie Poldi and the Handsome Antonio, 2020) is again summoned to Poldi's, where he finds a live-in sitar tutor and a newly hatched plan for Donna Poldina's Detective Agency. All told, it's not a bad idea: Poldi has solved three murders since she moved to Sicily a year ago. Business planning, however, is put on the back burner when Poldi is thrust into a dangerous Vatican mystery. A nun has died under suspicious circumstances after attending a bizarre exorcism where the possessed claimed to be Poldi. And, perhaps not coincidentally, the Vatican's treasured Black Madonna has suddenly disappeared. Pursued by a local mobster's thugs and dodging her imaginary friend, Death, Poldi pursues the nun's killer and the Madonna into a trap laid by her oldest nemesis. Poldi's devil-may-care attitude and Nephew's witty, self-deprecating narration are as entertaining as ever, but this series' fourth entry is anchored by Poldi's evolution as she faces both her future and her conflicted past.

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