Synopsis
It’s Mardi Gras season in New Orleans, but PI Franki Amato has too many problems to celebrate. A proven Sicilian lemon tradition hasn’t landed her a proposal, so her nonna has amped up the meddling to get her married, and pronto. Franki’s also under pressure to solve the strange murder of a family friend’s nephew, Nick Pescatore, who was found on a Mississippi River steamboat rumored to be haunted. When the sinister old boat sets sail on an overnight gambling cruise, Franki goes undercover with a motley crew, including a Mark Twainophile captain with a murderous past and a slimy galley chef with a mobster brother, not to mention an ex-stripper landlady with a newfound career as a memoir writer and all-too public speaker. Franki has to figure out what missing Civil War gold, a playing card, and a mysterious woman on roller skates have to do with Nick’s death. If she doesn’t, it’s anchors aweigh for Franki — down to Davy Jones’ locker.
Review
No doubt about it, the characters make this story. Franki is dealing with lemons and no engagement with many doubts on that end when her nonna comes to visit and that's another whole ordeal, but why Franki is trying to solve Nick's murder, while ignoring that her nonna may beat her to the alter. Her mother, the rest of the Italian widows in mourning, the Twainophile, the ex-stripper, and the chef ... Then there's the rumored Galliano gold and the civil war stories. Enough to keep any reader engaged - and smiling, if not laughing. The pace is steady and it all comes together in the end. As with others in this series, a cozy mystery plus humor provides for a pleasant escape from everyday stress.
Traci Andrighetti is the USA TODAY bestselling author of the Franki Amato Mysteries and the Danger Cove Hair Salon Mysteries. In her previous life, she was an award-winning literary translator and a Lecturer of Italian at the University of Texas at Austin, where she earned a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics. But then she got wise and ditched that academic stuff for a life of crime — writing, that is. Her latest capers are teaching mystery writing for Savvy Authors and taking aspiring and established authors on intensive writing retreats to Italy with LemonLit.
Author Links
Webpage: http://traciandrighetti.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/traciandrighettiauthor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TAndrighetti
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7383577.Traci_Andrighetti
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/traci-andrighetti
Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/Traci-Andrighetti/e/B00GL3SN3G?ref_=dbs_p_ebk_r00_abau_000000
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