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Book Reviewed by: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.
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.
This "masterly treat" (Times Literary Supplement) will transport you to the rocky shores of Torre Archirafi, to a Sicily full of quirky characters, scorching days, and velvety nights, alongside a protagonist who's as fiery as the Sicilian sun.
Chapter One
Describes how and why Poldi moves to Sicily and what her sisters-in-law think of it. Unable to function without her wig and a bottle of brandy, Poldi invites everyone to a roast pork lunch, makes her nephew an offer he can't refuse, and gets to know her neighbours in the Via Baronessa. One of them goes missing soon afterwards.
On her sixtieth birthday my Auntie Poldi moved to Sicily, intending to drink herself comfortably to death with a sea view. That, at least, was what we were all afraid of, but something always got in the way. Sicily is complicated?—you can't simply die there; something always gets in the way. Then events speeded up, and someone was murdered, and nobody admitted to having seen or known a thing. It goes without saying that my Auntie Poldi, being the pig-headed Bavarian she was, had to take matters in hand herself and sort them out. And that was when problems arose.
My Auntie Poldi: a glamorous figure, always ready to ...
Giordano has a talent for turning a few words into a portrait-in-depth, an example being his description of a slender young dilettante as looking like every French film director’s dream – "unbearably lonely, ultra-sexy, Sartre-reading Gallic beauty." He’s no slouch either as he deepens the narrative with descriptions of food, sidewalk cafes, and Sicily’s intense blue sky, but nothing’s done better than bringing the wry, and world-wise Sicilian people to the page. Word is that Auntie Poldi is the first of a series, but more courses to come or not, this initial effort is a veritable caponata siciliana – a tasty stew of food and culture, romance and mystery...continued
Full Review
(593 words)
(Reviewed by Gary Presley).
Auntie Poldi, in Mario Giordano's Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions, is intrigued when she encounters an unusual tattoo on the murder victim. It's Sicily's trinacria, an heraldic-style image whose origins linger in the shadows of Greek mythology.
Heraldry (the art of devising and displaying armorial insignia) may have begun on the battlefield as a means of identifying a rally point for warriors, or the warriors' allegiance. It's an easy assumption that heraldry could pre-date the written word and historical records. One royal house may have chosen lions rampant, for example, and another the fleur-de-lis, which are both emblems of nobility, bravery, and strength. There are dozens of these ancient emblems that first may have been ...
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