Author Jo Piazza weaves a captivating multigenerational mystery, inspired by her own family, that spans over a century and two powerful women. Sara Marsala, reeling from the collapse of her business and marriage, finds an unexpected lifeline in her great-aunt Rosie's passing. Armed with a plane ticket to Sicily, and a deed to family land, she sets off on the adventure of a lifetime. There she discovers a shocking family secret. Contrary to family lore, Sara's great-grandmother Serafina didn’t die of illness—she was murdered.

As Sara traces Serafina's story through the picturesque yet perilous Italian countryside, she uncovers more than just her family’s roots. Serafina was a strong-willed woman who defied societal norms in the early 1900s, and her defiance had deadly consequences. Sara’s modern-day investigation echoes her great-grandmother’s struggles, putting her in direct danger from the same forces that silenced Serafina.

The novel’s dual timeline builds suspense as Sara races to uncover the truth, facing the theft of her passport, a kidnapping, and local corruption. Piazza masterfully contrasts the challenges of 1900s Sicilian women left behind while their husbands sought fortunes in America with Sara’s own battles against modern-day discrimination and deceit.

With rich descriptions of Sicilian landscapes and a tight plot full of twists, The Sicilian Inheritance keeps readers hooked until the very end. This atmospheric, smart, and heart-pounding novel will equally enchant fans of historical fiction, and suspense. 4 stars.

** Thanks to the publisher for a comp of this book. The opinions are my own.

Absolutely loved Piazza's latest, which takes us on a trip to Italy to solve a long-held family secret. Just the right dose of feminism coupled with mystery and excellent writing.

I've been a fan of Jo's for years and I was anxiously awaiting this book. I adored it and it is the perfect book club pick. A great mix of suspense, romance and it transports you to Italy. What could be better?

The Sicilian Inheritance is a great blend of mystery, history, and connections to time, place, and family. It is a book I have kept thinking about long after reading. I highly recommend

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishing Team for this Advanced Digital Readers Copy, I thoroughly enjoyed this book!

I had been saving this book, because I thought, given the description, it would be a really special treat, right up my alley. I'm sorry to say, it didn't quite live up to my expectations. The story is told in dual POVs and while I was fascinated by the historical story of Serafina, the present day Sara's voice grated and her story felt repetitive and slow. So I guess half the book was great and half the book was kind of not for me, hence the three stars. I did feel I learned something about Sicily and its history that I did not know before. For that reason, I am glad to have read it, but all in all, it felt like a bit of a slog.

Jo Piazza's novel begins awkwardly and is slow to improve in its writing style. The second half of the novel is better written; however, many book discussion readers had already given up. Some of the action seemed out of place from the rest of the novel and some of the motivations of some characters seemed conflicted or not well explained.

This was a dual timeline story with Sara, a down on her luck chef and restauranteur who inherits some land in her family’s native Sicily. Is this land worth anything? Can she make some money from it and save her restaurant? As she finds out, her great-grandmother is the reason they have the land and she died under mysterious circumstances. Was she murdered? Sara has to get to the bottom of this to prove she’s the rightful heir to the land.

I’m going to be honest here- I didn’t love this book. I like the Sara plot much better than the historical Serafina plot. Sara has a young daughter that she was having to share with joint custody with her now ex-husband and I really felt for her. She also worked so hard for her dream and it was sad she had to close it due to money issues. The book was long winded and very dark in my opinion. It doesn’t paint Sicily in a very good light. It doesn’t make you want to go there at all. The people weren’t friendly, tried to swindle everyone and they weren’t accepting of outsiders.

I’ve enjoyed many books by this author and I think this one just wasn’t for me. I look forward to her next book.

A mix of suspense, historical fiction, & mystery, this book is about a woman, Sara Marsala, who finds out she’s inheriting land in Italy after her beloved aunt passes away. She heads to Italy to find out more & she has quite the adventure while she’s there. It goes back & forth between the perspectives of Sara & her great aunt Serafina. I could’ve gone without some of the bits & pieces that were thrown in. Overall it was good, but not great.

3.75 stars rounded up. Warning: this book will make you want to pack a bag and leave for Sicily right away. I really enjoyed this historical fiction/realistic fiction novel. The story is told through the eyes of two women- one is current day, and the other is 100 years ago. Serafina is trying to raise her kids and deal with life as essentially a single parent in Sicily. Her husband Gio is over in America trying to forge a new life for the family. Sara Marsala is our modern day character. She is named for Serafina. When a beloved aunt dies, Sara is left an inheritance on the island of Sicily. On her trip there she discovers there is much more to figure out than just her inheritance. This is a fast read- the only time I paused is when the author’s descriptions of places in Sicily inspired me to go look it up on Google.
Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this as an ARC.

I loved this book! A fun romp through the Sicilian island chasing a mystery, learning about the struggles women faced was interesting and sad. I would read more from this author.

Thank you Netgalley for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honesy review.

Summer’s almost here, which has me utterly ITCHING for a vacation. Although I have a few getaways on the books, I’ve still got some time to wait, which means I’m indulging in my favorite pre-summer tradition of turning to novels that transport me to new places.

This season, the first book up was Jo Piazza’s THE SICILIAN INHERITANCE. (A huge ty to @duttonbooks for my copy!)

This dual-timeline novel opens with the death of Sara’s beloved aunt Rosie just as her life is imploding. Not only is getting divorced, but she’s also forced to shutter the restaurant she’s spent years building. At Rosie’s funeral, Sara receives a letter calling her to Sicily, where she’s tasked with spreading her aunt’s ashes, potentially recovering a parcel of land worth a pretty penny, and uncovering a dark family secret. As the narrative moves between Sara’s present-day adventure and the life of Rosie’s mother Serafina in the 1900s, we watch as their stories coalesce, putting Sara’s life in danger from the same people who harmed Serafina nearly a century before.

We love a genre-bender over here, and this book truly embodies that. Not only is it a multigenerational family epic, but it’s a travel tale packed with both historical fiction and thriller elements. While I’m the first to admit that I’m often a historical fiction naysayer, I found Serafina’s chapters to be fascinating, especially in the latter half of the book as she fought for the women in her community. Dare I say I liked them even more than the present-day chapters? This is where the thriller element came in. Although some of the mafia characters felt a little cartoonish, the mystery had me HOOKED.

My only true gripe with this book was that Sara was largely pretty unlikable. She never seemed to take full accountability for what went wrong before, and expected everyone else to solve her problems. I know she was in a foreign country, but WHEW! I was stressed by her lack of problem-solving skills.

All in all, a SUPER fun romp through Sicily that made me want to drink wine and eat cheese and explore a new place.

Two stories of a modern day woman who inherits a ticket to Sicily to find out what happened to her Grandmother and why she never immigrated with her family. In flashbacks the reader learns of the story of her Grandmother in Sicily.

So good. I love that there's a personal backstory (listen to Jo's podcast too!) but this novel stands alone as an twisty, steamy exploration of heritage, family, and place.

This book is a must read for anyone with an interest in Italian heritage. One of the more interesting books and storylines I have read in a while. A great mother/daughter read or for any book club. Something for everyone of all ages.

Sara Marsala is dealing with the loss of her business and marriage when her great Aunt Rosie passes away along with the trip to Italy. Not knowing her Aunt had bought the ticket for her and made all of the arrangements this way she can find her way back to herself. She also asks to look into one other item and that is her great-grandmother Serafina, who supposedly died in Sicily before she could come over with her children. Hence is the beginning of the story of finding what happened to Serafina. An interesting story that goes back and forth from past to present and once you get into it you do not want to stop. Well well-written and makes you wonder if we have come that far because it seems some men are still afraid of smart powerful women and want to take away things from them. A much different story than I was expecting.

I love a historical fiction novel with a spooky mystery and an examination of the Cosa Nostra, so I really enjoyed this one. I have qualms about the pacing--the story ends abruptly and lingers in places I didn't expect--and I wasn't sure how much Italian Sara actually understands/speaks throughout the book, which is a pet peeve of mine. But overall it's a quick read for fans of Jo Piazza's other books and those who want to read about Sicily's past and present.

A perfect beach read for the summer - beautiful scenery, interesting characters and a fast-paced story line. I loved it and will be highly recommending it!

You could not beat the setting of this book and it's the perfect summer/beach read. While I expected a thriller, I wasn't expecting a mob type thriller lol The book kept me engaged and I loved the female empowerment, but it was just ok for me.

I'd heard a lot of buzz about this one but wasn't planning on reading it until one of my book club's selected it for the month of June. And while it was an enjoyable read (and definitely made me wish I was in Italy, or at the very wanting to eat a LOT of Italian food), I found it a bit over the top. Some of the side characters felt a bit cartoonish and unbelievable, as did a couple aspects of how it all wrapped up. It's not a book that will stick with me, but I liked it enough while reading it and will try some of Piazza's other books (like Charlotte Walsh likes to win).