A trip to Sicily, a mystery and humor all make this book a treat!

I enjoyed the characters, especially the wonderful Auntie Poldi and her friends/family.  The mystery was well-written but as this was my first book to read, in the series, I was a little lost.  I would recommend reading the books in order.  Howevet, the book provided mystery, humor, twists and turns and a good time!

I received an ARC from NetGalley and the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Author # Mario Giordano has a new novel # ' Auntie Poldi and the Handsome Antonio's. Just like his last this one is quirky, fun and will make you smile. A much needed break for us all!!
Thank you,
#Netgalley, # Mario Giordano, and # Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the advanced copy

The third novel by Italian-German author Mario Giordano featuring the flamboyant Auntie Poldi (a.k.a. Isolde Oberreider) begins with a shocker: a Tanzanian husband appears on Poldi’s doorstep. Faithful readers already knew that Auntie Poldi had already gotten a very brief glimpse of Detective Inspector John Owenya (although considering Auntie Poldi’s penchant for policemen, I shouldn’t have been surprised that she married him).

Owenya drags Auntie Poldi and her nephew into another mystery, and we learn a lot more about her past. Most of it seems exaggerated, but then…. Well, if I told you anymore, it would ruin your enjoyment. Let’s just say that Poldi’s narrator-nephew, her brother-in-law, her estranged husband and, naturally, Poldi herself prove to be real heroes. As fun and funny as the Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions and Auntie Poldi and the Vineyards of Etna, with just the right amount of magical realism. (Once you read it, it will all make sense.)

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in exchange for an honest review.

Hopefully someone else will enjoy this book and series. I will try another series in the authors name

I think this would have been a better read if I had read some of the previous books in the series.  I felt like I was playing catch up and even though there is some backtracking to help I had trouble connecting with all the characters.  But with that said, the book can stand alone and still has a fast paced mystery with quirky characters and lots of adventure.

I have seen this series around the bookstores before, but I hadn't made the plunge to start reading them. In this book Auntie Poldi's ex-husband turns up on her doorstep looking for his half brother who has disappeared in Sicily. Now the man who broke her heart and stole her house in Tanzania, wants her help to find him. They have some crazy adventures to find him. The situations they find themselves are fun and outlandish. I really enjoyed it. I loved the descriptions of Sicily. It was well written too! I wonder if things would make more sense if I had read the series, but I don't feel like I was lost while reading it. 

Thank you for NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for an advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

For fans of Jonas Jonasson and Carl Hiaasen, Auntie Poldi and the Handsome Antonio is a quirky, fast-paced ride where something unexpected is always around the corner.  The third book in this series can be enjoyed without reading the other books first.  Unexpectedly, Poldi's estranged husband from Tanzania shows up looking for his half-brother Thomas, who was in possession of an attache case that multiple parties are after.  As Poldi and friends search for Thomas, they encounter multiple Handsome Antonios, experience sights and sounds of Sicily, and Death, Poldi's old friend, makes a few surprise cameos.  The vibrant cast of characters makes for good company on this fun ride, and hopefully we'll read their next adventure very soon.

Auntie Poldi is a Bavarian pensioner with an intriguing past who now lives in Sicily. Her character is fun but some of the other characters were a bit too quirky and unbelievable for me personally.

I love this fun, cozy mystery series. This installment keeps the magic from the earlier books.  Overall, my second favorite of the series (the initial book being the best).

It's always a pleasure reading a new instalment in Auntie Poldi series.
Quirky characters, a realistic background and highly enjoyable stories. The solid mystery kept me guessing.
I can't wait to read the next instalment.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Such a fun series. Poldi is a great, fun character. Can't wait to read the rest of the series. Loved this one!

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

If you haven't read an Auntie Poldi book, now is the time.

This is the fourth book in the Auntie Poldi series. You don't "have" to read them in order, but for character development, it does help. They are completely fine as stand alone books as well. 

Here's why you need Auntie Poldi in your life- she is a German widow who moves to Sicily because she wants to drink herself to death by the sea. She is a mix of Jessica Fletcher from Murder She Wrote and Blanche from The Golden Girls. She is whip smart, selfish, bold, a great admirer of men (especially those in uniform- and they of her). This book is not for the meek or those who demand complete reality- Death, himself as a character, is in these books and often shows up to remind Poldi how to make decisions that keep her or others alive. They're murder mysteries told from Poldi's nephew's point of view (much like Watson relays the adventures of Sherlock Holmes.)

If you'd like to visit Sicily, these books would be a great stand in for that. This book, in particular, tells of different parts of Sicily and really makes the settings a character. There are detectives, mob hencemen, a McGuffin, a Finnish band, celebrity characters, love affairs, thieves, travel, farting dogs, Death, and general Auntie Poldi antics. If you like audiobooks, I do find these more fun on audio as the narrator does an excellent job with the Italian words and the various cast of characters. This is a great mystery, in modern Italy, with zany characters and plot. 4.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance copy for review.

With thanks to NetGalley and Mariner Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for a copy of this book to read and review.  I have read all three of the Auntie Poldi series.    In the first book Auntie Poldi decided to leave Bavaria and move to Sicily with the plan of drinking herself to death with a view of the sea.  Fortunately she enjoys ‘investigating,’ especially in the company of her policeman boyfriend Vito Montana, enough of an inducement to stay alive.  This outing for Auntie Poldi demonstrates clearly how Poldi is the star of her own vision of her life.  Her nephew who visits her often to work on his hoped for multi-generational family novel,  finds himself spending more time participating in and documenting Poldi’s life and adventures.  And adventures there are in abundance.  And men of course.  Which brings me to things to think about whenever the story may seem to be spinning out of control! This is Poldi’s version of her life and may include elements as eye popping as her wild Bruce Lee set piece!  Her focus is always on solving the crimes/problems confronting her, except when she is sidetracked by an urge to add to her stash of photographs of handsome policemen in uniform.  There is also the phrase “parallel universe” which frequently comes to mind for her nephew.   And  magic too.  Just sit back and let it happen….

While the story may not be memorable, this third book in the Aunti Poldi series makes me think Aunti Poldi is worthy of being a sister to the Marx Brothers. She’s a 60+year old Bavarian, with a checkered if not interesting past, who now lives in Sicily. This mad hatter tromp through the Sicilian countryside because of a briefcase wanted by the Mafia is entertaining, and despite the Mafia makes me want to visit Sicily.

Long live Auntie Poldi! This is the second Auntie Poldi book that I have read and I really love the quirky characters and larger-than-life story.

Auntie Poldi's estranged husband shows up at her house looking for his brother. The only way I know how to describe with wonderful book is "madcap adventure." You never know what is going to happen next except that it is going to be bizarre and somehow believable.

I loved that the nephew (who is normally just the chronicler) played a more active role in the story. I really like the point-of-view the author has chosen for these stories. The story is told in first person by the nephew but highlights the character Auntie Poldi. The nephew is telling the story as related to him by his aunt. He is an unreliable reliable narrator (he is reliable but biased). He is omniscient but limited (to what his aunt chooses to tell him). I really hope there is more to come in this series.

"Sicily is complicated and something always intervenes."

This is an excellent series taking place in Sicily. I loved the first two books, and the third is even better. Auntie Poldi is a fun character - a feisty older woman who is smart, funny, and in love with all attractive male policemen. Poldi's estranged husband, John Owenya, a detective from Tanzania, has come to Sicily looking for his brother, Thomas, who was probably involved with the mafia from both places, and may have stolen a valuable brief case. John and Montano have a strained relationship since they are both in love with Poldi. They find a postcard in Thomas' hotel room with a phone number and "Handsome Antonio". The phone number doesn't seem to go anywhere.

Poldi first finds a buried body with no head and very mutilated, which is probably Thomas. She ends up on a trip around Sicily with her nephew and uncle Martino in a borrowed (stolen) Maserati where they meet strangers, have shoot outs, and are definitely in danger from the Mafia. They actually find several Handsome Antonios, but only one of them was a dangerous character who wanted the briefcase.

Auntie Poldi and the Handsome Antonio is the third Auntie Poldi mystery by Mario Giordano. Originally published in German in 2018, this English translation released Aug 4th 2020 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, is 352 pages and available in hardcover, paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book (and the first in the series) is currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free.

The titular character, Isolde Oberreider, aka Poldi, has retired from film/tv (where she was a costumer) to Sicily to drink, soak up sun, enjoy seeing attractive men in uniform and live out her twilight years whilst solving the occasional murder. She's a beehive wig wearing (a la Winehouse), Maserati driving Venus of Willendorfian force of nature, cutting a wide swath through the Carabineri and the local mafioso alike. Her Watson is her nephew, who dutifully records her exploits and tries not to get run over whilst trying to write his own epic multi-generational historical novel in the style of James Michener. Between the scenes background is provided by three Italian aunties who serve as a Greek chorus for the narrative.

At 352 pages, it's a more substantial read than many contemporary procedurals or cozies. The length allowed the author to richly develop the setting and characters without suffering from book bloat at all. The plotting was tight and the pacing was perfect and never dragged for me.

This is a really charming book with very appealing and sympathetic characters written with humor and heart. I really cared about them. It should be noted that there is a fair bit of double entendre, sly sexual asides, and fairly clean mentions of male genitalia in this book. The characters drink, swear, and some of them smoke cigarettes (and sometimes cannabis). The whole is exuberantly and warmly funny. There is some discussion of death and suicide in the book which could be triggering for some readers.

Although originally released in German, the translation by John Brownjohn is seamless and nuanced and certainly doesn't seem to detract from story at all. Poldi is smart and funny, quirky and outspoken and I adore her. It doesn't read like a translated work. I generally prefer to read in the original language, but my German isn't up to the task, and this series depends so heavily on pacing and deftly sparkling narrative. I'm thankful the translator is up to it. I'm really looking forward to future installments (foreshadowed in the book, and already released in German and hopefully coming soon in translation).

Four stars, really enjoyable read.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes

I received a free digital advance review copy from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. 

Auntie Poldi is an endearing eccentric woman who has retired to a small town in Sicily, and can't resist getting to the bottom of a murder in need of solving. I was eager to read Aunte Poldi and the Handsome Antonio, as the previous book in the series ends on a cliffhanger with John, Poldi's estranged husband from Tanzania unexpectedly appearing at her door. Poldi's time in Tanzania is alluded to in the earlier books, and I would have liked to have learned more about that backstory. John's appearance in this volume connects to the mystery at hand, though we don't learn how they met or get much insight into what happened in Tanzania. Perhaps Giordano will pick up these plot lines in a later book. 

Handsome Antonio has a bit of a different feel than the earlier two books in the series. Poldi's nephew, an aspiring novelist, tags along with Poldi and directly participates in some of the events, while in prior books, he is the narrator of the story, reporting what happens as told to him by Poldi after the fact. Some of the scenes in this book felt more far-fetched, with Poldi portrayed as more of a caricature as opposed to having experiences that could actually have happened. For example, there is a "fight scene" that describes "Poldi, now in full-ninja mode." I could see the cartoon lettered "Bam" and "Pow" reminiscent of Batman superimposed on the image of Poldi in my mind. Then again, as Girodano writes, "Reality is full of magic. One has to want to see it, that's all." Her off-handed name-dropping of celebrities she's interacted with takes on a more prominent role in the plot as well. I will be interested to see which direction the next book in the series takes.  

As in earlier books, Giordano includes enticing descriptions of the Sicilian landscape and food. I would recommend this series to anyone looking for a strong independent female protagonist. Poldi solves murders, but overall, the book is a light-hearted and entertaining escape in a beautiful settings with a colorful cast of characters.

This is a witty and entertaining series.  I read the first one but need to go back and read the others in between.  Aunt Poldi is a somewhat eccentric sixty year old living in Sicily who continually gets herself mixed up in crazy and often dangerous situations.  Her nephew accompanies her and is the narrating sidekick.

I’m not entirely sure how to rate Auntie Poldi and the Handsome Antonio. The publisher’s description made it sound like a fun romp, a comical cozy mystery of sorts, just what I was looking for, between more “serious” reads, and I suppose it did live up to those things. However, the writing style just didn’t appeal to me. As a “woman of a certain age” I was happy to read about a 60-year-old woman with a healthy sexual appetite and sense of adventure, but I felt the emphasis on Poldi’s sexual activities was just a bit too much, especially in the early part of the book. This was my first Auntie Poldi book and perhaps I would have enjoyed this more if I had read the first two. I enjoyed the bits of magical realism with Death showing up to talk to Poldi. I also enjoyed the descriptions of Sicily and its people and would love to go there, if we can ever travel freely again. 

Recommended for readers who like madcap adventure and unlikely situations with a happy ending.

Thank you for NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for an advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review.