Auntie Poldi and the Vineyards of Etna by Mario Giordano, John Brownjohn (Translation)

Auntie Poldi is still having her hot affair with the policeman she met on her last murder case.  She's not supposed to interfere but she likes working for him and can ask questions he can't.  When she goes to a winery's party, she's attracted to the owner.  When he leaves her and says he will back soon, she drinks more than she should.  She awakens in his bed with him sleeping on the other side.  She blacked out, so she doesn't know what happened.  The worst part is that when she's sneaking out, she goes through the grape fields and finds a dead body...

HMH sent me an ARC to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published March 5th.

The dead woman was a fortune teller.  She was supposed to be meeting with Poldi later but now that would never happen.  She finds there was another murder in the area.  She starts looking for connections, asks a lot of questions and snoops everywhere.  

Her detective tells her to stop, she doesn't listen.  The more she finds out, the more danger she's in.  This time the Mafia seems to be involved.  Just as she's getting close to the truth, her detective tells her he's marrying someone else and will be moving.  She shuts down for a few days and her heart hurts but she carries on.

She finally gets recruited by the police to be part of the investigation and does help solve the case.  She's got as many morals as an alley cat, doesn't fear much, and will wander into trouble instantly but she's also smart and uses her brains...

Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions by Mario Giordano, John Brownjohn (Translated by)

Auntie Poldi retires to Sicily.  She plans to drink herself to death.  Nothing in life interests her anymore.  Then the young man who did odd jobs for her ends up dead.  Nastily dead.  She now has a new interest...

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Edelweiss allowed me to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published March 6th.

Since she found the body, the police look at her as a suspect.  At last one of the supervisors shows up and after a few questions, let's her go.  She begins by asking about the dead man and interviewing those he worked for.  Most were quite polite but one company owner throws her out.  She pesters him everywhere and they aren't friends.  But she keeps digging.

She even has a romance going.  It's not going far and he's trying to keep his distance but he's drawn to her even if he is a police supervisor.  She delights in telling her sisters about him.  Then she finds he has another girlfriend...

When she finally figures out the killer, she confronts him in her home.  That wasn't a good choice.

With greed, hot blooded Italians and more in the story, it's amusing and fun to read even though it's a mystery.  I'd read another book about Auntie Poldi just to see how it turns out with her romance...