Nonna Maria, one of the matriarchs of the island of Ischia in the Bay of Naples, assists the captain of the local carabinieri, Paolo Murino, with two cases. They've developed mutual respect and friendship, and that trust is necessary when it comes to the case of a stolen necklace. Arianna Conte, a guest at Grand Hotel Excelsior, claims a valuable family necklace was stolen from her room. She blames a maid, but that maid is Nonna Maria's granddaughter. No one ever saw the missing necklace, and Murino and Nonna Maria doubt that it exists. Nonna Maria has a plan to expose the con, though. Nonna Maria gets involved in the investigation of the death of an unidentified woman when a scared young accountant informs her he's afraid he might have hit the body. Although, that's easily proven false, the woman's story points at the past, and the cruel separation of a mother and child. Even Nonna Maria feels as if she neglected a friend years earlier, and now must correct her own errors. The clever solutions derive from Nonna Maria's knowledge of the people of Ischia.

The streetwise Italian Miss Marple is a shrewd amateur sleuth in this second atmospheric mystery that leaves a hint of mysteries to come.

I loved Nonna Maria, she kinda reminded me of Jessica Fletcher in a good way. It does what I was looking for in a mystery genre, I had enjoyed the plot of the book and getting to read this. Lorenzo Carcaterra has a great writing style for the mystery genre. The charactres were great and I'm so glad I got to get back to their world as I really enjoyed the first book in the series. I hope this series continues as I've enjoyed the first book and this one.

"Bernardino looked to his left and to his right before responding. “I’ll help you,” he said. “Reluctantly I’ll do as you ask. But remember, I know as much about you as you do about me. You’ve been pulling your cons for a long time and I’ve been there for most of them, and what I haven’t witnessed I’ve heard about."