by Mario Giordano (Author)
Recently widowed Poldi moves to Sicily in order to quietly drink herself to death with a sea view. But fate intervenes. When she finds the corpse of a young man on the beach, his face blown off with a sawn-off shotgun, she becomes a potential suspect in his murder case. Poldi soon falls for the gorgeous Commissario Montana who has been assigned to lead the case and, after some initial misunderstandings, they form an investigative - and romantic - partnership. The delightful detail of this romance, and the extreme awkwardness of its retelling to her mortified nephew, produce some of the novel's many high points, and exemplify the work's warmth and wit. Sicily is a vivid backdrop, an island of people obsessed with food, family and friendship. They talk passionately about which remote village produces the best olives, pistachio ice-cream, oyster mushrooms, mandarins and marzipan, about which restaurant serves the best pasta al nero di sepia or canolli a la crema di ricotta. And never a direct reference to the mafia ( ...an invention of those fascists in the North ), even when discussing corruption and murders committed with sawn-off shotguns.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 320
Publisher: Bitter Lemon Press
Published: 14 Jul 2016
ISBN 10: 1908524693
ISBN 13: 9781908524690
London Times: Determined to solve the mystery herself, she interferes with police inquiries and lusts after the commissario in charge. Mario Giordano -- a Bavarian of Sicilian parentage who writes in German -- has created a delightful detective and a lively, humorous portrait of Sicilian society and gastronomy. Times, Marcel Berlins
Publishers Weekly: Giordano's winning debut and series launch unleashes 60-year-old Isolde Poldi Oberreiter, the daughter of a Munich police detective, on the unsuspecting populace of the Sicilian village Torre Archirafi, where the fiercest conflicts center on where to buy the best fish, or whether coffee should be drunk solely as a sugar delivery system. Poldi's pursuit of Valentino's killers is done with breezy good humor. Wry, appreciative observations of Sicilian food, people, and history herald a series worth tracking.