A cross between some of the funny Scandi books (the 100 yr old man) and Montalbano - so fun, and set in Sicily. A light hearted read that made me laugh - sometimes this is just what you need.

The discursive approach of this crime story is ameliorated by the fascinating characters at its heart - first of all the douty Poldi herself, the wayward aunt of the narrator who is as sexy, eccentric and smart,, altogether appealing enough to hold our attention as she challenges and bests the police detective in her sights - and he is worth it too. The characters are entirely absorbing, and it is her relationship to them, and her ways in the Sicilian town that makes it all work. I totally loved this, and there are hints more are to come - ambitious and the crime at the heart is almost less at stake than our hopes for her love life .. and her enchanting family - not to speak of the dogs, and Etna spurts its lava at the propitious time .... wonderful.

If you like detective books and a easy read,where you don't have to think to hard this is the book for you,very enjoyable.

An entertaining read - pleasantly different. Funny sweet and sad at the same time.

I love books, especially detective novels, with a strong sense of place and in this we are in Sicily so strongly that you can just about smell the lemons. At the age of 60 Auntie Poldi decides to move to Sicily, to be near relatives and prepare for death. Ironically she is one of the most alive people around - living life to the full, quaffing prosecco daily and certainly appreciating young boys.
She has suspicions about the disappearance of a handsome handyman and so begins her adventure.
Great fun and I hope there are more in the series.

A cross between Agatha Christie's Miss Marple and Camilleri's Montalbano, but unfortunately without quite capturing the best of either. Auntie Poldi is an eccentric amateur sleuth, retired to Sicily and determined to drink herself to death. Events conspire against her in that someone else dies, which she feels needs explaining, and therefore is diverted from her initial aim. She possibly inherited her talents from her detective father but tells us her story and divulges her theories via a nephew who has writers' block - all of which struck me as a bit unnecessary and ultimately irritating. I think I would rather have her tell the story direct to the reader.
I did enjoy the descriptions of the supporting characters, the main one of which is Sicily itself, and it definitely makes me want to visit the island, see the sights for myself and sample the food, but I think the way the story was told overcomplicated it.

I picked up Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions by Mario Giordano because of the intriguing title, which stirred thoughts of some of the Scandi humour of the last couple of years. Auntie Poldi is a middle aged German widow who has chosen to while away her latter years in a small Sicilian village with her nephew (hence the 'Auntie') and sisters-in-law except that she can't just soak up the local colour and alcohol. She finds herself drawn into solving the disappearance of her handyman, Valentino which involves a close encounter with boss of the local Mafia and an enchantment with the investigating detective.

This is a charming novel with some good characters and and a lovely Sicilian flavour, it isn't heavy crime but it has sufficient twists to keep you interested. Definitely worth a read and I'm looking forward to the next Poldi novel in 2018

I expected to enjoy this rather more than I did. It's not bad, but it could have done with a good deal more focus and a good deal less background and self-conscious quirkiness.

Aunti Poldi is a Bavarian woman who, at the age of about 60, moves back to Sicily to be with her sisters and drink herself to death. However, a murder mystery and a handsome policeman begin to restore her. Poldi herself is a real Character – rather too much so, for my taste. Her "characterful" behaviour became increasingly implausible and eventually rather annoying at times. Also, the story is slow. This isn't necessarily a problem, but I found the long digressions into Sicilian culture, customs, geology, history and so on got in the way quite badly; I could really have done without several pages on the history of Sicilian sulphur mining, for example. When the plot finally comes to a head the climax is ridiculous, with a hopelessly implausible Cornered Killer Climax From Which She Only Narrowly Escapes. I do realise that this isn't supposed to be particularly realistic, but even making generous allowances for this, it was pretty silly.

It's not a bad book and has it's moments of humour; some of the characters are rather well drawn and we do get a strong sense of place, even if it's overdone at times. However, I found it a bit of a slog and can only give it a rather lukewarm recommendation. This is the start of a series, but it's not a series I'll be rushing to read., I'm afraid.

(I received an ARC via Netgalley.)