Nonna Maria and the Case of the Missing Bride

Nonna Maria and the Case of the Missing Bride PDF

Author: Lorenzo Carcaterra

Publisher: Bantam

Published: 2022-05-03

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 0399177620

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When a crime on a beautiful Italian island stumps the police, locals turn to the trusted elderly widow Nonna Maria in this transporting mystery from #1 New York Times bestselling author Lorenzo Carcaterra, “one of the all-time greats” (Jeffery Deaver). “An utterly delightful tale starring one of the most charming amateur sleuths ever created.”—Tess Gerritsen, New York Times bestselling author of Listen to Me Nonna Maria has lived on Ischia, an island in the Gulf of Naples, her entire life. Recognizable by the widow’s black she’s worn every day for decades, she always has pasta on the stove and espresso in the pot for the neighbors who stop by to ask her advice on life and love. Everyone knows her, and she knows everyone’s business. So if something goes wrong, islanders look to her, not the local carabinieri, to find the solution. When a recently engaged woman confesses that she’s afraid her fiancé, a stranger to Ischia with a murky past, might not be who he seems, Nonna Maria helps her disappear so she can investigate the true nature of her betrothed. The stranger has also raised the suspicions of Captain Murino of the carabinieri, but he’s occupied investigating the death of a tour boat captain who drowned in the wee hours of the morning. Captain Murino believes it was an accident, but Nonna Maria knows the man was a born sailor and too good a swimmer to drown, no matter how much wine he might have drunk. While Captain Murino has his hands full, she pours herself a glass of white wine and gets to work, even though getting involved will expose her to the dangers lurking just beneath the surface of her idyllic home.

Nonna Maria and the Case of the Stolen Necklace

Nonna Maria and the Case of the Stolen Necklace PDF

Author: Lorenzo Carcaterra

Publisher: Bantam

Published: 2024-01-30

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 0593499204

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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.

Nonna Maria and the Case of the Lost Treasure

Nonna Maria and the Case of the Lost Treasure PDF

Author: Lorenzo Carcaterra

Publisher: Bantam

Published: 2024-05-07

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 0593499220

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Nonna Maria, “one of the most charming amateur sleuths ever created” (Tess Gerritsen), dodges assassins and hunts for hidden treasure in this transporting mystery from #1 New York Times bestselling author Lorenzo Carcaterra. As Nonna Maria’s longtime pal and sometimes colleague, Captain Murino, in charge of the local carabinieri, never wanted to see harm brought to the doorstep of everyone’s favorite espresso-brewing, counsel-giving amateur sleuth. But when you live a long life, you’re bound to make a few enemies. And when those enemies come calling, you have to rely on friends. Faced with an assassin seeking revenge for a decades-old grudge, Captain Murino has no choice but to turn to Maria, who must use all her neighborly resources, clever faculties, and web of connections to save him from his perilous predicament. On the other side of the island, a second mystery begins to unfold at the deathbed of another of Maria’s old friends, as he hands his granddaughter a yellowed map and tells her of a treasure to be found in one of Ischia’s secret caverns. However, there are traps and pitfalls. There will be others with sinister motives who will do all they can to make the treasure their own. But this map is a guide—the only gift he has to give. When the granddaughter needs help cracking the code, she turns to her grandfather’s most trusted friend: Nonna Maria. From battling foes in medieval castles to exploring the notorious caverns where smugglers hide their goods, Nonna Maria and her friends—some old, some new—embark on their most swashbuckling adventure yet.

Nonna Maria and the Case of the Lost Treasure

Nonna Maria and the Case of the Lost Treasure PDF

Author: Lorenzo Carcaterra

Publisher: Bantam

Published: 2024-05-07

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 0593499212

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Nonna Maria, “one of the most charming amateur sleuths ever created” (Tess Gerritsen), dodges assassins and hunts for hidden treasure in this transporting mystery from #1 New York Times bestselling author Lorenzo Carcaterra. As Nonna Maria’s longtime pal and sometimes colleague, Captain Murino, in charge of the local carabinieri, never wanted to see harm brought to the doorstep of everyone’s favorite espresso-brewing, counsel-giving amateur sleuth. But when you live a long life, you’re bound to make a few enemies. And when those enemies come calling, you have to rely on friends. Faced with an assassin seeking revenge for a decades-old grudge, Captain Murino has no choice but to turn to Maria, who must use all her neighborly resources, clever faculties, and web of connections to save him from his perilous predicament. On the other side of the island, a second mystery begins to unfold at the deathbed of another of Maria’s old friends, as he hands his granddaughter a yellowed map and tells her of a treasure to be found in one of Ischia’s secret caverns. However, there are traps and pitfalls. There will be others with sinister motives who will do all they can to make the treasure their own. But this map is a guide—the only gift he has to give. When the granddaughter needs help cracking the code, she turns to her grandfather’s most trusted friend: Nonna Maria. From battling foes in medieval castles to exploring the notorious caverns where smugglers hide their goods, Nonna Maria and her friends—some old, some new—embark on their most swashbuckling adventure yet.

A Safe Place

A Safe Place PDF

Author: Lorenzo Carcaterra

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Published: 2010-09-22

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 0307756637

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"Dramatic, graphic and wrenching...The reader is left to wonder--at the devastation of Carcaterra's youth, at his survival to adulthood, and at the grace that allowed him to craft this piercing memoir." THE WASHINGTON POST Lorenza Carcaterra grew up in Hell's Kitchen, New York in the 1950s and '60s in a confusing world of love and fear of his paradoxically violent and affectionate father. Then Lorenzo learned that his father had murdered his first wife. And he wondered how he could love his father again. Did he possess the same murderous fury; would he someday suddenly lash out at those he loved? As his father's physical abuse escalated, Lorenzo sought frantically for a safe place...a place where he could find hope and reconciliation and peace, where his father's terrible shadow no longer lingered. Now, decades later, Lorenzo has finally come to terms with the awful truth about his father. A SAFE PLACE is the brilliant result.

Three Dreamers

Three Dreamers PDF

Author: Lorenzo Carcaterra

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Published: 2022-04-26

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 0593156730

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“As nourishing as a three-course Italian feast, this is a fierce, moving tribute to the ties that bind.”—People (Book of the Week) The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Sleepers offers a heartfelt homage to the women who taught him courage, kindness, and the power of storytelling: his mother, his grandmother, and his late wife. Standing with his children near his grandmother’s grave on a recent trip to Ischia, an island off the coast of Naples, Lorenzo Carcaterra realized how much of his life has been shaped by the women who taught him how to look for joy and overcome sorrow. This book is his tribute to them. Nonna Maria, his grandmother, gave him his first taste of a loving home during the summers he spent with her as a teenager on Ischia. With her kindness, her humor, and the same formidable strength she employed to make secret trips for food when the Nazis occupied Ischia during World War II, she instilled in him the importance of community, providing shelter for a boy whose home life was difficult. His mother, Raffaela, dealt with daily hardships: a loveless and abusive marriage, the burden of debt, and a life of dread. Though the lessons she taught were harsh, they would drive Lorenzo from the world they shared to the better one she always prayed he would find. The third woman is his wife, Susan, a gifted editor and his professional champion. Their marriage lasted three decades before her death from lung cancer in 2013. While their upbringings were wildly different, their love and friendship never wavered—and neither did her faith in Lorenzo’s talent and potential as a writer.

Midnight Angels

Midnight Angels PDF

Author: Lorenzo Carcaterra

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Published: 2010-07-06

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 0345521986

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Kate Westcott, a gifted American art student, has come to Florence to study Michelangelo. Exploring the cobbled streets of the Renaissance city with her fellow student Marco, Kate feels the pull of destiny. And when the two uncover a chamber in a corridor sealed since the time of the Medicis, they make a stunning discovery: Michelangelo’s Midnight Angels—three small, exquisite sculptures long rumored to exist but never before seen. It is the find of a lifetime—and the beginning of a nightmare. Pursued by criminals, suspected by the Rome Art Squad, and navigating the underground network of a secret society, Kate and Marco must use all their cunning to protect Michelangelo’s work—and their lives.

The Trouble with Thin Ice

The Trouble with Thin Ice PDF

Author: Camilla T. Crespi

Publisher: iUniverse

Published: 2003-07

Total Pages: 303

ISBN-13: 0595287174

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Simona and her detective boyfriend are spending Christmas in a cozy Connecticut inn to attend an interracial wedding. It's Simona's first vacation with Greenhouse and her nervousness isn't helped by the presence of Greenhouse's wary teenage son, Willy. Out for some needed cold air, Simona discovers a body under the thin ice of the nearby lake. The dead woman, whose husband had disappeared years earlier, turns out to have had mysterious ties to Kesho, the African American bride-to-be. Greenhouse is in Florida with his ailing mother, leaving Simona in charge of Willy, when Kesho is arrested for the murder. Convinced of her new friend's innocence and with Willy as her Watson, Simona delves into the town's secrets and lies to uncover the truth. Another murder gives Simona a much-needed clue, but her zeal for the truth puts Willy and her in danger. Thanks to Simona's gutsiness and Willy's fast thinking, the murderer gets his due, Kesho walks down the aisle and Greenhouse asks a question. A recipe for Comfort Pasta is included. "Simona exercises her adorable ways with a vengeance but it is her keen intelligence, not her bubbly personality, that wins." -Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review "Rich in atmosphere and buoyed by wry wit, Crespi's briskly paced narrative calls for an encore." -Publishers Weekly starred review "Crespi turns out a nicely complicated story that includes both unexpected twists and credible interpersonal tensions Simona's voice is personable. She deals deftly with racism and, more generally, with stereotyping, whether it is used to pigeonhole blacks, Italians, or New Yorkers." -Wilson Library Journal "The Trouble With Thin Ice is the best Simona Griffo yet, a fast-paced puzzle with the trademark recipe included." -M.E. Burness, Reading For Pleasure

Mother Daughter Traitor Spy

Mother Daughter Traitor Spy PDF

Author: Susan Elia MacNeal

Publisher: Bantam

Published: 2023-09-19

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 0593156978

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From the New York Times bestselling author of the Maggie Hope series comes a tantalizing standalone novel inspired by a real-life mother-daughter duo who stumble upon an underground Nazi cell in Los Angeles during the early days of World War II—and find the courage to go undercover. “Stirring . . . Susan Elia MacNeal’s page-turning prose is as entertaining as ever—I was riveted from beginning to end.”—Kate Quinn, author of The Alice Network June 1940. France has fallen to the Nazis, and Britain may be next—but to many Americans, the war is something happening “over there.” Veronica Grace has just graduated from college; she and her mother, Violet, are looking for a fresh start in sunny Los Angeles. After a blunder cost her a prestigious career opportunity in New York, Veronica is relieved to take a typing job in L.A.—only to realize that she’s working for one of the area’s most vicious propagandists. Overnight, Veronica is exposed to the dark underbelly of her new home, where German Nazis are recruiting Americans for their devastating campaign. After the FBI dismisses the Graces’ concerns, Veronica and Violet decide to call on an old friend, who introduces them to L.A.’s anti-Nazi spymaster. At once, the women go undercover to gather enough information about the California Reich to take to the authorities. But as the news of Pearl Harbor ripples through the United States, and President Roosevelt declares war, the Grace women realize that the plots they’re investigating are far more sinister than they feared—and even a single misstep could cost them everything. Inspired by the real mother-daughter spy duo who foiled Nazi plots in Los Angeles during WWII, Mother Daughter Traitor Spy is a powerful portrait of family, duty, and deception that raises timeless questions about America—and what it means to have courage in the face of terror.

Street Boys

Street Boys PDF

Author: Lorenzo Carcaterra

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Published: 2002-08-20

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 0345461800

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Naples, Italy, during four fateful days in the fall of 1943. The only people left in the shattered, bombed-out city are the lost, abandoned children whose only goal is to survive another day. None could imagine that they would become fearless fighters and the unlikeliest heroes of World War II. They are the warriors immortalized in Street Boys, Lorenzo Carcaterra’s exhilarating new novel, a book that exceeds even his bestselling Sleepers as a riveting reading experience. It’s late September. The war in Europe is almost won. Italy is leaderless, Mussolini already arrested by anti-Fascists. The German army has evacuated the city of Naples. Adults, even entire families, have been marched off to work camps or simply sent off to their deaths. Now, the German army is moving toward Naples to finish the job. Their chilling instructions are: If the city can’t belong to Hitler, it will belong to no one. No one but children. Children who have been orphaned or hidden by parents in a last, defiant gesture against the Nazis. Children, some as young as ten years old, armed with just a handful of guns, unexploded bombs, and their own ingenuity. Children who are determined to take on the advancing enemy and save the city—or die trying. There is Vincenzo Soldari, a sixteen-year-old history buff who is determined to make history by leading others with courage and self-confidence; Carlo Maldini, a middle-aged drunkard desperate to redeem himself by adding his experience to the raw exuberance of the young fighters; Nunzia Maldini, his nineteen-year-old daughter, who helps her father regain his self-respect— and loses her heart to an American G.I.; Corporal Steve Connors, a soldier sent out on reconnaissance, then cut off from his comrades—with no choice but to aid the street boys; Colonel Rudolph Van Klaus, the proud Nazi commander shamed by his own sadistic mission; and, of course, the dozens of young boys who use their few skills and great heart to try to save their city, their country, and themselves. In its compassionate portrait of the rootless young, and its pitiless portrayal of the violence that is at once their world and their way out, Street Boys continues and deepens Lorenzo Carcaterra’s trademark themes. In its awesome scope and pure page-turning excitement, it stands as a stirring tribute to the underdog in us all—and as a singular addition to the novels about World War II.