Nonna Maria and the Case of the Stolen Necklace
A Novel
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- 9,49 €
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- 9,49 €
Publisher Description
Nonna Maria, “one of the most charming amateur sleuths ever created” (Tess Gerritsen), sets out to clear her goddaughter’s name and uncover the checkered past of an unidentifiable victim in this transporting mystery from #1 New York Times bestselling author Lorenzo Carcaterra.
Nonna Maria has a lot on her plate—and it’s not just fresh pasta. Two crimes have rocked the sun-drenched island of Ischia, and once again the island’s denizens have called upon the espresso-brewing, sage-counsel-giving sleuth.
A wealthy woman alleges that a valuable necklace has been stolen from her hotel room. She blames one of the young women working on the cleaning crew as the most likely suspect—a young woman who turns out to be Nonna Maria’s goddaughter. Loretta takes the heat, but privately she proclaims her innocence.
Nearby, the body of a woman is found on a curved road near the borough of Barano. The woman is not known to anyone on the island. She has no purse, carries no identification. The one suspect is a young friend of Nonna Maria’s who drove by the area that very night and thinks that he might have hit something—a pothole, or an animal, or maybe the woman in question.
It turns out that this woman had a decades-old history on Ischia, but why did she return, and more important, who killed her? It’s up to Nonna Maria to string together the clues—like the links of the beautiful missing necklace—and solve these two mysteries before death comes to Ischia again.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Carcaterra's charming sequel to 2022's Nonna Maria and the Case of the Missing Bride finds 70-year-old widow Nonna Maria, the Italian island of Ischia's favorite amateur sleuth, dealing with two mysteries. The first is the murder of an unidentified woman, found by the side of a road leading down to the port. The second concerns an accusation of theft made against Nonna Maria's goddaughter, Loretta, a maid at the Grand Hotel Excelsior. Eager to appease their haughty guest, the management promptly fires Loretta while the police look into the incident. Using "her wide network of contacts throughout the island and as far away as Rome (though she had never set foot in that city)," Nonna Maria conducts her own investigations, while collaborating with the captain of the carabinieri, Paolo Murino. When not solving a crime or helping a friend in need, she's "content to drink more than her share of coffee during the day and white wine in the evening and cook large, flavorful meals for her family." Appealing characters match the diverting plot. Carcaterra offers armchair travelers a soothing vacation from daily strife.