Auntie Poldi and the Lost Madonna is the fourth silly, slightly inebriated romp featuring Auntie Poldi and her hapless Watson, by Mario Giordano. Originally published in 2019 in German, this English language translation from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt was released 18th May 2021. It's 352 pages and is available in hardcover, paperback, audio, and ebook formats.
These are silly books. This one in particular is exceedingly silly and slapstick and full of completely inappropriate juvenile sexual innuendo. Auntie Poldi is very much like an incorrigible 14 year old boy trapped in an (almost) 61 year old's body. She is insatiable, drinks (way) too much, and does things like breaking into the Vatican and literally tripping over the Pope (knocking him flat on his behind in the process). That being said, this is a sweetly affirming cozy mystery with its heart in the right place. The plotting is over the top, the characters are beyond quirky, the prose is somewhere firmly past purple, but the overall effect is hilarious and touching in some ways. It's about life and love and The Universe And Our Place In It.
Although the plot contains a number of seemingly supernatural agents and plot elements, there's (almost) always a rational explanation and Auntie Poldi's dogged determination eventually brings the truth to light. The mystery itself wasn't the main attraction for me. It's clever enough and ridiculous, but isn't the main event. Seeing Poldi careening around Rome and the awe (and cringe) inspiring hilarious devastation in her wake are worth the price of admission.
I found that I enjoyed the read much more if I were already in a good mood or full of the necessary suspension of disbelief to be carried along. Even those days when I wasn't already in good humor, my mood was much improved by the time I was done reading for the day.
Four stars. This is a well written and irreverently funny tale, well told.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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