Blood Curse (Commissario Ricciardi Series) by Maurizio di Giovanni

Literature, horror, police procedural, classic mystery:  that's what you get in the Commissario Ricciardi Series.  Blood Curse is book two.  Two aspects of Italian culture are featured in Blood Curse:  motherhood, and an over emphasis on physical beauty.  People suffer terribly in the book for both aspects.

The book begins by introducing the characters, using skilled third-person narration in both the classic omniscient style and sometimes in the limited style, with a darkly ironic narrative voice.  There are many poetical touches in the text, especially when Naples is described.

Book One

To be honest, one-third of a way into the book, I returned to the start and skimmed through to make sure I had everyone and everything thing straight, before continuing reading through to the end.  It was worth the effort.

I love challenging books that have big rewards, and this is one of those books.  There is much for an Italophile to enjoy in this series that is written in Italian and wonderfully translated into English.  The translator smoothly inserts explanations of the Italian elements, keeping a strong local flavor while making it intelligible for non-Italian readers.

 Book Three

Horror is not my favorite genre, and I avoid horror films like a plague, but I can just bear it in a book.  The horrific descriptions of the recently deceased in Blood Curse, and the other books in the series, have a purpose. 

Police Commissario Luigi Alfredo Ricciardi di Malomonte has a special ability that gives him a decided edge when solving homicide cases:  he can see the ghosts of the recently deceased, and hear their last thoughts and words.

With that ability (reminiscent of the film Sixth Sense and the TV show Ghost Whisperer) Ricciardi is:

...the sole spectator of the rotten theatre of human evil.

Book Four

 

The era is the early years of Italy's Fascist regime, the 1930s, so the reader gets a glimpse at what life under the Fascists was like (a police state is not pleasant, but many needed modernizations were made to Italy's infrastructure).

The setting is southern Italy's iconic city, Naples.  There is a real feel for the city and her people.  The differences between today's Naples and the Naples of then are pointed out, too.  If you know Naples, then you'll find that extra interest in the books.

The city reminded Ricciardi more all the time of one of those houses with a nice parlor for entertaining guests while the rest of the rooms were falling apart.

Book Five

 

Commissario Ricciardi is a tragic figure, suffering since childhood with his visions.  He isolates himself so as to not taint others with his burden, but that just adds to his sadness.  He was given a privileged upbringing, one that we glimpse in flashbacks now and then.

He has few close friends, but they are fiercely loyal:  his nanny from childhood, his police Brigadier, and the medical examiner who calls Ricciardi the "Prince of Darkness" because of his spectral appearance that strikes all who see him.

Book Six

 

Ricciardi's attempts, sometimes just imaginary, to have normal human contact, are very touching.  It is Ricciardi's, and his close friends', strong decency at the heart of the story that made the death and suffering bearable for this reader.  There is also some humor to lighten the tale.

If you are looking for Italian crime novels with a difference, this could be your go-to series.  Like all Italian fiction, it is rich with human psychology, both the good and the bad.  It is also at times literary, poetical, touching, funny, ghostly, macabre, fascinating and even educational about the historical era. 

   

Book Seven

 

Here are the books to-date in the Commissario Ricciardi Series:

1. I Will Have Vengeance (Winter - Novella)
2. Blood Curse (Spring)
3. Everyone in their Place (Summer)
4. The Day of the Dead (Autumn)
5. By My Hand (Winter)
6. Viper (Spring)
7. The Bottom of Your Heart (Summer)

Here is a direct link to the series page at Amazon.com.  Here is a direct link to Blood Curse at Amazon.com. 

Please visit the author's page at his English language publisher's site.

Summer of Fire by Kitty Pilgrim

Beautiful Capri, Italy, and southern Italy's volcanoes are the settings for many of the events in Summer of Fire, an International Romantic Thriller.  The reader gets to jet-set along with the characters through Italy, with stops in England, Norway, Iceland and France.  Good guys, bad guys, lovers, adventurers all come together for an exciting finish.

It all begins in Capri, which the author describes thus:

There was a magical timelessness to Capri  A special atmosphere, and a sense of history. ...  Nowhere on earth was more romantic.

And Capri turns out to be a retreat for many of the book's characters, a place to escape the world, a romantic retreat.

This is the book's exciting trailer:

We get lots of threads as the book builds its plot:  a forbidden love affair, a death that is possibly a gangster hit, a policeman determined to keep Capri mobster-free, a Camorra boss and his killer/burglar, teen boys seeking adventure, priceless jewels, and a loving couple who might make a deeper commitment if given a moment's peace.

The author weaves all the stories together creating dangerous situations galore.  There is some in-scene violence, and a handful of vulgarities.  The writing is smooth (I always like more past-perfects than many writers use), and the story flows well.  The voice is third-person limited, allowing us into the heads of various characters over the course of the book, but only one per section.

This is a European crime story with lots of romance and some thrills and chills. I liked that the author had our heroes feel horrible when they had to take a life to save themselves or others, showing the difference between them and the sociopathic bad guys.

I know there was no real choice.  But it's still hard to kill a man.

The author adds into the mix information on the active volcanoes in Europe, even putting us over one as it erupts, and on another as the lava starts to flow.  This International Romantic Thriller is a fun read for a holiday, or when you just want to feel like you're on holiday, perhaps just to enjoy the fantasy of being in the Capri villa along with the book's characters.  Magari!

There are actually three books to feature the main protagonists in Summer of Fire, an archeologist and an oceanographer:

1. Explorer's Code
2. The Stolen Chalice
3. Summer of Fire

Award-winning CNN journalist Kitty Pilgrim turns her talents to print in The Explorer’s Code, an exciting international thriller that revolves around the quest for a land deed valuable enough to kill for.

When the renowned young oceanographer Cordelia Stapleton receives an invitation to accept an award on behalf of her great-great-grandfather, a famous Victorian polar explorer, she has no idea her life is about to change dramatically. John Sinclair—a dashing, wealthy archaeologist and philanthropist—presents Cordelia with the award at the glamorous Oceanographic Institute Ball in Monaco.

He also gives her a journal that her great-great-grandfather wrote in 1908. An orphan with very few family belongings, Cordelia is amazingly touched to have this precious heirloom. Once the journal is in her possession, Cordelia learns that she is heir to the land on which the Global Seed Vault in Norway sits. The valuable deed for this land, or at least a clue to its whereabouts, may be hidden in the journal.

The Explorer’s Code is a satisfying blend of historical detail, fast-paced action, scientific discovery, and the thrill of exploration that informs as well as entertains. The breathtaking ending in the high Arctic is as chilling as a polar breeze.

CNN veteran Kitty Pilgrim returns with her second novel featuring the beautiful young oceanographer Cordelia Stapleton and the dashing, urbane archaeologist John Sinclair. Set in the international art world, The Stolen Chalice takes readers across the globe. Bombings, kidnappings, and Sinclair’s old love conspire against the couple as they search for valuable Egyptian art.

The black-tie gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art promises to be a star-studded evening. Cordelia Stapleton and John Sinclair have flown in from Alexandria, Egypt, to help celebrate ancient Greek, Roman, and Egyptian culture with New York’s elite. The influential crowd of artists, collectors, scientists, and New York society dine and dance at the museum’s historic Temple of Dendur, unaware that terrorists are planning to attack. Fortunately, museum security and police stop the terrorists, but the evening is a disaster.

The next morning, Cordelia and Sinclair learn that an art theft ring struck New York while they were at the museum. All over the city, pieces of Egyptian art have been stolen. Ted VerPlanck—a pillar of New York society whom Cordelia met the night before—discovers that his penthouse apartment was robbed and the legendary Sardonyx Cup, an ancient Egyptian chalice, is missing. Ted asks John Sinclair to help him recover his precious artifact.

When nature takes charge, sparks fly.

 On the beautiful island of Capri, a royal princess begins a secret love affair, oblivious to the dangers that surround her. Internationally renowned novelist Kitty Pilgrim chronicles a modern thriller based in the historic volcanic region of Southern Italy. Her characters, archaeologist John Sinclair and oceanographer Cordelia Stapleton, team up once again for a tale of glamour and romance that spans every level of society—from the dangerous criminal underworld of Naples to the jet set of Europe.

  

Here are direct links to all three books at Amazon.com:

Please visit the author's website where she has many videos showing the research she does for her books.

This review is by Candida Martinelli, of Candida Martinelli's Italophile Site, the author of the crime-romance novel THE HAGUE, a traditional murder mystery novel AN EXTRA VIRGIN PRESSING MURDER, and the young-adult/adult mystery novel series THE VIOLET STRANGE MYSTERIES the first book of which is VIOLET'S PROBLEM.

The Novice by Mirella Sichirollo Patzer

Naples, Italy, in the middle ages (the year 915):  a dukedom, a walled city, threatened by coastal raids by North Africans, and the church is the only Europe-wide authority.  Sara begins her story in a convent, a place she abhors, as a novice, someone who joins a religious order but who has not yet taken the final vows of commitment to the order. 

By the end of The Novice, Sara understands and relies on the sanctuary convents offered women in the misogynistic middle ages.  She returns more than once to the nuns' protection when things get unbearable for her.

Sara's story begins with swashbuckling adventure and real danger.  Saracen, North African, raiders attack the convent.

...the walls of a convent could not protect them against the vile Saracens who burned homes, martyred children, and sacked and fired towns.

Escaping just in time, Sara enjoys her new-found freedom.  Convent life was not for her.

She was determined to live life to its fullest and revel in the glories of joy, love, security and freedom.

Things don't go exactly as Sara hopes they will.  For the first half of The Novice, Sara experiences high romance, adventure, danger, excitement, and chivalry from the classic hero.  Nicolo is gorgeous, brave, noble, and he even has a cleft in his manly chin.

...she felt safe with Nicolo, and feared nothing.

The second half of the story turns darker, with Sara suffering at the hands of a sadistic cad.

Sara loved Nicolo's quiet affection far more than the yearning and lust she saw on Umberto's face.

The author has a lovely style of writing; it is literary without being ponderous.  She evokes the era with her descriptions.  The politics of the time is introduced into the story naturally, never overwhelming the reader.  The narration is omniscient at times, and 3rd person limited at times, alternating the mind into which we get to see. 

Mrs. Radcliffe brought the medieval (Gothic) romantic fiction genre to the public in the late 1700s, entrancing readers with historical romance laced with gothic and melodramatic touches.  Her bestselling books, such as A Sicilian Romance and The Mysteries of Udolfo, are now in the public domain, and available as free e-books. The books favor the picaresque style, where the reader follows the heroine on her long sequence of adventures and misadventures, ending with romance.   

The author of The Novice writes a slightly more modern version of the genre, one that includes some vulgarities, and in the case of The Novice, two explicit rape scenes (I could have done without them, to be honest).  But the picaresque style remains, along with the melodramatic and Gothic elements.

This Indie writer works hard to produce quality work and to present it to the reader with beautiful covers.  The Novice is romantic, swashbuckling, escapist fare in which one can get immersed, blocking out the real world for a while.  The reader might even come away from the story thinking that things really aren't so bad for us today, after all.  The Novice is great stuff for fans of this old yet still entertaining genre.

From the book's description:

A young woman on the verge of taking her vows to become a nun.
A desperate flight from a murderous massacre.
One honorable man comes to her rescue.
Another becomes her nemesis and captor.
And a life and death search to reunite with her one true love.

In 10th century Naples, Saracens run rampant, annihilating villages, murdering women and children. Death and despair is everywhere.  Alone in the world, Sara is a young novice plagued with doubts about taking her final vows to become a nun.  When her convent is attacked, she flees for her life straight into the arms of a group of Saracens who leave her to die alone in the woods.

An honorable cavaliere named Nicolo comes to her rescue and offers to take her to the safety of Naples.  As they journey together, they are irresistibly drawn to each other.  Believing Sara to be a nun, the honorable Nicolo is torn between love and duty to respect her vows.

Heartbroken, he does what honor demands and sets her free before she can tell him the truth that she is not a nun.  In her search to reunite with Nicolo, she encounters Umberto, a dark and dangerous man who will stop at nothing in his obsession to possess her.  With her sharp intellect, and her heart, Sara must rely on her own courage and strength to escape her abuser and find the only man she will ever love.

A story that burns with intensity, intrigue, and passion from the author of the highly successful novel, The Orphan of the Olive Tree.

Here is a direct link to The Novice at Amazon.com.

The author has these other historical romance novels.

The Orphan of the Olive Tree
(click on the image to go to the book's Amazon.com page)

AWARDED THE B.R.A.G.G. MEDALLION for Indie Fiction

A compelling historical romance and family saga.  A blood oath, a dreadful curse, and the evil eye. A dark family secret that will shatter lives and the woman who must risk everything to keep it buried.

From two neighbouring villas in the heart of the Tuscan countryside to the elegance of Siena; from a world steeped in ancient superstitions to a culture where family honour is paramount comes, this multi-layered novel of the lives, loves, secrets and strivings of two women and their families in the 13th century.

The Contessa's Vendetta
(click on the image to go to the book's Amazon.com page)

The Contessa's Vendetta is a historical fiction thriller ripe with suspense from first page to last. A tale of betrayal and revenge that will hold you spellbound until the shocking ending.

The Contessa's Vendetta is a retelling of the classic novel, Vendetta by Marie Corelli. Inspired by this epic classic novel; a new and captivating tale in a new setting, a new century, and with new plot twists while remaining faithful to key story elements.

The Betrothal
(click on the image to go to the book's Amazon.com page)

Two young lovers bound by their love for each other. A dreadful overlord who will shatter lives to possess the woman he loves, and the dark secrets that one woman will risk everything to keep buried. An absorbing novel about wicked intentions, murder, obsessive love, undisclosed secrets, unstoppable destinies, and the woman whose secret will either destroy or restore lives.

The Betrothal is a retelling of the classic novel, The Betrothed (I Promessi Sposi) by Alessandro Manzoni. Inspired by this epic Italian classic novel; a new and captivating tale in a new setting, a new century, and with new plot twists while remaining faithful to key story elements.

The Pendant
(click on the image to go to the book's Amazon.com page)

A medieval tale about a lost ancient treasure. A 100 year family feud. And a woman with a passion richer than the bloodstone pendant she wears around her neck.

This Italian historical romance novel with a gothic flare has it all - an ancient mystery, a bloodstone pendant with a secret, murder, vengeance, and a love story to take your breath away.  An historical gothic romance of murder, desperation, and true love.

Italian Historical Box-Set
(click on the image to go to the book's Amazon.com page)

The Novice e-book is also available via Smashwords, the big on-line e-book seller that offers e-books in various format for instant download.

Direct link to The Novice at Smashwords

Please visit the author's website and blog, and her historical novel review site.

If you wish to know more about Mrs. Radcliffe, and read some of her Italy-based books, please visit my page about her on my Candida Martinelli's Italophile Site.

Direct link to the Mrs. Radcliffe page

 

 

 

This review is by Candida Martinelli, of Candida Martinelli's Italophile Site, and the author of the cozy-murder-mystery novel AN EXTRA VIRGIN PRESSING MURDER, and the young-adult/adult mystery novel series THE VIOLET STRANGE MYSTERIES the first book of which is VIOLET'S PROBLEM.

Tino and the Pomodori by Tonya Russo Hamilton and Britta Nicholson

Intelligently thought out, Tino and the Pomodori (Tomatoes), a children's book, begins with six illustrations depicting how a tomato seed becomes a seedling, then a plant, then a flowering plant, then the plant growing the tomatoes, and lastly, a crate of harvested tomatoes.  The child gets an overview of what he is about to learn, showing that the author and illustrator are experienced educators!

The sun woke Tino early this beautiful morning in his small Italian village.

The first line of the book introduces Tino, a young boy who lives in Italy.  I like that Italy's most famous produce is linked in a child's mind to the country.  Tomatoes come originally from Latin America, but no other country has made tomatoes their national produce the way Italy has, using it to make the famous pasta sauce and so much more.

Tino, from a watercolor illustration for the book by Britta Nicholson

The era depicted in Italy seems from a generation ago, or perhaps from today in some areas of southern Italy.  We learn in a Note To Reader at the end of the book that the story of Tino is true, and is about the childhood of a grown man (the author's father).  The Note is accompanied by a lovely map featuring the sort of landmarks a child would note.

Italian phrases and words are integrated into the book's text, presenting a child with the concept of another country having another language.  The language is easy to understand, with translations incorporated into the text.  This book is ideal for starting a child off learning Italian, or for continuing a child's study of Italian as a second language.  A Glossary of Italian Terms used in the book is provided at the back of the book.

Detail of one of Britta Nicholson's watercolor illustrations for the book

The full-page watercolor illustrations, by illustrator Britta Nicholson, are rich with authentic details characteristic of the Italian countryside, and of the basic houses and their contents.  The plants mentioned are correctly depicted, and correct for each time of year.  The art style is naïve, simple and clear, colorful and endearing.

Children can be prompted to spot different details in the illustrations, with each subsequent reading of the story:  the views from the open windows and doors, the cured meats drying overhead, basic cooking ingredients like flour (farina) and olive oil (olio d'oliva), the time on a clock.

Even the pages with the book's text are illustrated with growing tomato plants (this is a detail)

The text, together with the illustrations in Tino and the Pomodori, which I received as a review-copy, teaches children about the full growth cycle and the necessary care of tomato plants.  There is even a description of how the seeds are harvested from the tomatoes for the following year.  Today's urban children are too often disconnected from the sources of their food.  Tino and the Pomodori goes a long way to correcting that lack of education. 

The text and illustrations in Tino and the Pomodori complement each other perfectly.  The basic, practical Italian words are effortlessly integrated into the story.  Tino and the Pomodori is the perfect book to broaden a child's education, and to start a child off on learning the Italian language.  It is 56 pages long, and available in hardback, to better withstand the multiple readings.

From the book's description:

Tino and the Pomodori explores, through the eyes of a child, the magic that is the life cycle of a tomato plant.

Tino takes the reader on a journey starting in the piazza of his small village in Italy, to his farm where he learns to work the land. He explains how the tomato starts as a seed drying in the sun and grows to be, la bella frutta - the beautiful fruit, that would eventually make the family’s sauce and bruschetta to go with Nonna’s thick, hard-crusted bread.

Visually engaging with vibrant watercolor illustrations, Tino and the Pomodori celebrates simplicity and the beauty of growing, harvesting, and preparing one's own food.

Tino and the Pomodori is published by  Gemelli Press LLC.

Gemelli Press is a boutique publisher based in Seattle, Washington and Calabria, Italy, combining twin passions for books and Italy.

Just like an Italian nonna choosing the perfect pomodoro, we too hand select our authors so that we can produce high quality books that touch and inspire our readers.

Our unique collection of Italian-inspired publications includes fiction, memoirs, travelogues, and other nonfiction focused primarily on food, wine, and Italian life and culture. At this time, we are not interested in publishing books entirely in the Italian language or English translations of Italian books.

 

Direct link to the Tino and the Pomodori page at GP

Here is a direct link to the book at Amazon.com:

Please visit the author's website: Tonya Russo Hamilton's website

Here is a two-minute video tour of an Italian tomato garden, giving a bit of history and culture.

Here, in very clear and simple Italian, is an Italian cook showing how Italian tomato sauce is made.

And here is an instructional video on how to make the appetizer Bruschetta, like the ones in the book.  It is in Italian, but you don't need to understand the language to understand how to make Bruschetta, because all the steps are demonstrated.

This review is by Candida Martinelli, of Candida Martinelli's Italophile Site, and the author of the cozy-murder-mystery novel AN EXTRA VIRGIN PRESSING MURDER, and the young-adult/adult mystery novel series THE VIOLET STRANGE MYSTERIES the first book of which is VIOLET'S PROBLEM.

The Paradise of the Devils by Franco Di Mare

The Paradise of the Devils is a translation from Italian of the novel Il paradiso dei diavoli, about life in Naples, Italy.  The book begins with a Camorra hit-man who turns out to be the book's protagonist.  The author uses Homer's technique of pausing the action to recount a character's history, then clicking "play" to continue a scene, so prepare yourself for a poetic journey through this well-written book.

We meet plenty of other characters in the book, including a psychopathic killer, a middle-school teacher who lives with endless disappointments, a gang leader, a mother and her dreams for wealth through her twelve-year-old daughter, that daughter grown up and become a gangster's moll, a reporter.

I must say that the book feels less like a novel and more like a collection of short stories.  Some chapters could stand on their own, just fine, in a literary magazine.  Together, however, the stories take the shape of the story of a guilt-wracked, damaged young man, who becomes twisted by the lack of morals around him, and the easy proximity of everyone in Naples to crime.

All the way through the book there are ruminations on lots of interesting things, but mostly on Naples and her people.  The most scholarly rumination is this one:

In truth, the city's endemic problems had already been analyzed in depth by an American sociologist in the 1950s, Marco recalled, groping in his mind for the guy's name.  Yes, it was Edward Banfield, who had coined the idea of "amoral familism" and lack of "social capital," whereby in southern Italy--and Naples was its undisputed capital--illegality was virtually the norm.  The interpretation of the law was "highly flexible," so to speak.  According to Banfield, the only rules people respected were those that did not contrast with the interest of one's own family, group, or clan.  Anything and everything else was totally disregarded.  That was the way things were, and no one marveled a tit.  In this fertile ground, the evil weeds of criminality inevitably took root.  People would look the other way or steer clear if they saw something amiss.  The basic philosophy of life seemed to be:  What do I care?  It's none of my business.

We learn about privileged children through the eyes of their poorly paid, demoralized teacher:

...apathetic, spoiled rich kids who had no interest in philosophy, history, books, or culture of any kind. ...their sole basic needs consisted of smartphones, texting, MP3 players, teenage crushes, automobiles, and designer clothes. ...

Their entire lives were guaranteed from the day they were born, each one with a place ready for them either in some professional firm or in the family business.

We learn a lot about Neapolitans:

"the Neapolitan path to Stoicism"

"duality of Neapolitan people's souls"

"austerity and rigor on one side, and pompousness...on the other"

We learn about Naples:

Naples natural beauty, its position on the beautiful Bay of Naples was something "to forget the many things wrong with the city".

...the city of Naples was like this:  wonderful from a distance, but when seen close up, it was fragmentary, indefinable, and coarse. ...the "paradise of the devils" that Benedetto Croce cited in a famous essay that her old professor of literature quoted all the time...

...the crowds, the chaos, the market stalls, the beggars, the parades of the unemployed, the general hubbub of the ancient decumanus, the muggers and thugs, the piles of rubbish, the loafers, and the worst traffic in Europe.

Never been to Naples?  Here is a two minute video postcard of Naples:

Sometimes the inclusion of the characters' trips through Naples read like a car's navigation system, but they do add local flavor to the story.  There is lots of local flavor in this story, with detailed digressions about neighborhoods and local gangs and famous characters.

The author skillfully moves his characters back and forth in time, revealing things about them at his own speed, and for his own reasons.  You just have to hang on and go for the ride.  It is an interesting ride, full of insights into human nature, and especially insights into the complex, damaged Naples and her Neapolitans.

From the book's description:

Naples is a city with two sides: the sun-kissed coast and the shadows of the back alleys. It is at once beautiful and full of suffering. It is the paradise of the devils.

This novel by Franco Di Mare is a mournful hymn of love for Naples and the compelling story of its eternal contradictions. A vivid and dreadful portrait of the city, setting the stage for a diverse cast of characters, from Carmine—a man with a double soul, a refined intellectual and a hit-man—to the men who take part in a bloody showdown.  The reporters, the housewives, the killers are all in some way tainted by the evil that inhabits the most beautiful gulf in the world.

The Paradise of the Devils is published by Open Road Media.

Open Road Integrated Media is a digital publisher and multimedia content company. Open Road creates connections between authors and their audiences by marketing its ebooks through a new proprietary online platform, which uses premium video content and social media. Open Road has published ebooks from legendary authors including William Styron, Pat Conroy, Jack Higgins, and Virginia Hamilton, and has launched new e-stars like Mary Glickman. 

Direct link to the author's page at ORM

Here is a direct link to The Paradise of the Devils at Amazon.com:

This review is by Candida Martinelli, of Candida Martinelli's Italophile Site, and the author of the cozy-murder-mystery novel AN EXTRA VIRGIN PRESSING MURDER, and the young-adult/adult mystery novel series THE VIOLET STRANGE MYSTERIES the first book of which is VIOLET'S PROBLEM.

Vain Pursuits, The Bunny Elder Series by J. B. Hawker

Vain Pursuits is the second book in The Bunny Elder Mysteries/Adventures Series, a cozy-suspense-adventure and romance series featuring a mature, female protagonist who has to do a lot of growing up in late life.  This second book in the series is set primarily in Italy, which is why I read the book and am reviewing it here. 

Bunny Elder's humorous perspective dominates Vain Pursuits, but we do get to see, convincingly, into the minds of a few of the other characters, too.  However, Bunny Elder is the star with her dry wit, varied life-experience, random musings, and quick take on the characters who cross her path.  She is also religious, finding strength and comfort in her Christian faith.

The author likes to share Bunny's views on life.  For example, a modern romantic-comedy film is dismissed as a "distasteful bit of fluff", and here is her take on modern so-called romance-novels:

She found these books with their blow by blow, as it were, descriptions of 'then he did this and she did that' with heaving bosoms and pulsing manhood, off-putting, manipulative and salacious.

The trip to Italy is Bunny's attempt to help her recently widowed sister recover from her loss and grief.

She was counting on the trip to restore Taffy's spirits enough to ward off another depression.  There is no timetable for grief, but mourning can so easily become a habit.  Like lying down in wet cement, depression is harder to escape the longer you stay in it.

Bunny, too, is still suffering from the violent loss of her husband, the central story in the first book in the series, Hollow.

The sisters' plane touches down in Venice, Italy, the first stop on their tour of Italy.  On the plane, they make a chance encounter that is the first of many unwitting moves in a cat and mouse game the two women unknowingly play with gangsters, from Venice to Naples.  The climax in Naples is a bit rough for a cozy novel, but all ends well, as one would expect.

Vain Pursuits is a swift, light, heart-filled story, spiced with gentle humor, especially concerning mature women and men.  Their adventures in Italy, and the travel experience, change Bunny and Taffy.  They discuss that at one point:

I'll admit that when we first planned this trip I was nervous about going off into the great unknown, but after being here I feel empowered somehow, as if I could travel anywhere in the world. ...

... I do feel proud of myself for actually making the trip and not just dreaming about it.

There are three strands to the story, which the author skillfully bring together with the women facing down gangsters and the police, and Bunny reuniting with her first love.  The women's small-town and conservative lives provide nice touches throughout the story.  Here is an example of Taffy's thoughts, from near the end of the book:

Raised to feel guilty for everything from eating the last doughnut in the bag to global warming, Taffy and her sisters lived in horror of getting into trouble of any kind.  A run-in with the Italian police was the worst kind of trouble and beyond her ability to cope.

Late blooming, late self-realizing Bunny Elder's adventure is resolved before the end of the book, but her love-life and personal growth are not.  Those are the strands that link the book to the next novel in series, Seadrift.

The books are well-edited and well-written.  If you are fond of cozies, and like a mature, female protagonist, this is a series for you.  If you are an Italophile, as I suspect you might be because you are visiting the Italophile Book Reviews site, then you will certainly enjoy book two in the series, Vain Pursuits, the most.

Here is a link at Amazon.com to a special e-book bundle of the whole Bunny Elder Adventure Series, all four e-books, for a special price that saves you quite a bit of money!

From the book's description:

This second book in the Bunny Elder series finds Bunny flying off to romantic Italy as traveling companion to her newly widowed sister.  It seems like the trip of a lifetime and a chance to recover from her pastor husband's recent murder, as well.

Little does she suspect that this trip in search of a special Neapolitan nativity set for her sister's collection will ensnare the two women in a muddle of smugglers, Italian mobsters, kidnapping and death.  Can even an unexpected reunion with her first love prevent this dream trip from becoming Bunny's worst nightmare?

These are the four books in The Bunny Elder Adventures Series:

1. Hollow
2. Vain Pursuits (set in Italy)
3. Seadrift
4. And Something Blue

Hollow, the first book in this series, and Vain Pursuits are both recipients of the coveted BRAG Medallion awarded by the Book Readers' Appreciation Group, IndieBRAG.

The Medallion is awarded to independently published books that meet a high standard of criteria by the groups' judges, as explained on their website.  In my opinion, all the books in the Bunny Elder Adventure Series are of the same high standard as Hollow.

Here are direct links to all four books in The Bunny Elder Adventure Series at Amazon.com:

If you prefer, you can purchase the paperback editions directly from the publisher, Amazon.com's CreateSpace.

Direct link to Bunny Elder books at CreateSpace Shop

Visit the author's website, her Facebook Page, and her personal blog Power Walking with Jonna.

This review is by Candida Martinelli, of Candida Martinelli's Italophile Site, and the author of the cozy-murder-mystery novel AN EXTRA VIRGIN PRESSING MURDER, and the young-adult/adult mystery novel series THE VIOLET STRANGE MYSTERIES the first book of which is VIOLET'S PROBLEM.