Auntie Poldi and the Lost Madonna
Auntie Poldi 4
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- £4.99
Publisher Description
There's only one Auntie Poldi: bewigged, cursing in Bavarian, and knocking back a wee shot of grappa as a pre-breakfast aperitif ... or is there? No one is as they seem (and sound) in this hilarious new mystery featuring Sicily's sultriest sleuth.
Strange dealings are afoot in the Apostolic Palace-a nun leapt to her death shortly after participating in a seemingly routine exorcism. But when a priest clad in Gammarelli and a Vatican Commissario with an almost unholy level of sex appeal turn up at her door, Poldi is shocked to hear that she's a suspect in their case.
Who is the woman being exorcised, and where has she disappeared to? And why in the world does she claim, in perfect Bavarian, to be Poldi, Isolde Oberreiter, of Torre Achirafari?
Poldi will need all the help she can get to clear her name, but her nephew has been distracted by a love affair gone sour, someone in the town has been graffitiing death threats on her front door, and her local friends seem to be avoiding her. And even Vito Montana balks when Poldi discovers that the case hinges on a lost Madonna statue, stolen years ago from the Pope himself...
Forza Poldi! With a pair of mysterious twins dogging her every move and a mandate to maintain sobriety, will Poldi be able to find the lost statue in time, and survive her sixty-first birthday?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Giordano's exceptional fourth Auntie Poldi mystery (after 2020's Auntie Poldi and the Handsome Antonio), 60-year-old Isolde "Poldi" Oberreiter, a Bavarian who has settled in Torre Archirafi, Sicily, sets aside her plan "to drink herself to death in comfort with a view of the sea" to investigate another crime—the death of a nun who fell from the roof of the Vatican's Apostolic Palace following the exorcism of a woman named Rosaria. When the priest asked Rosaria to renounce her demon, she spoke Bavarian German in Poldi's voice. While the plot, which involves the theft of a statue of a Black Madonna, is satisfyingly packed with danger and surprises, it's the digressions on Sicilian history, the Italian mentality, and Poldi's pronouncements on life and sex that provide readers with some laugh-out-loud moments as well as food for thought. Those who appreciate the intelligent silliness of S.J. Perelman will want to see more of the sexy, quick-witted Poldi, who won't take guff from any man, including the pope.
