Mario Giordano – författare

''Alive with a tang of lemons to set the senses zinging'' The SpectatorFiction at its most charming - A Man Called Ove meets Andrea Camilleri, Auntie Poldi is this summer''s most unlikely hero.Auntie Poldi can think of no finer place to wait for death than Sicily. All she asks is a sea view, fine wine (and plenty of it), and her family close around.When death instead takes her handsome young friend Valentino - and under mysterious circumstances at that - Poldi will not take it lying down.Perhaps it''s in her blood (her father was a detective chief inspector); perhaps it''s a diverting excuse to spend more time with men in uniform; or perhaps it''s just the promise she makes to Valentino while holding his poor dead hand.But Auntie Poldi''s hunting instincts have never felt more alive. Justice must be served - if it''s the last thing she does . . . Auntie Poldi and the Fruits of the Lord, the second Auntie Poldi adventure, is out now!

A Man Called Ove meets Inspector Montalbano, Auntie Poldi leaves no stone unturned in her quest for answers. Wine and murder - nothing is more likely to rouse Auntie Poldi''s love of the chase.Still relishing the notoriety from her spectacular resolution of the Candela case, Poldi is alive to the faintest whiff of criminality.What to others might seem a series of misfortunes - the water supply cut off, a poisoned dog - is clearly, to Poldi, an escalation: the Mafia have had her in their sights ever since she solved Valentino''s murder.Poldi has tasted blood. No one is above suspicion. And trouble will surely follow . . .

All the beloved, irascible Auntie Poldi wanted from her Sicilian retirement was time to enjoy sunshine, a free-flowing supply of wine, and a sultry romance with Chief Inspector Montana. But then her idyll is rudely disrupted by the last person she wants to see on her doorstep - John Owenya, detective inspector with the Tanzanian Ministry of Home Affairs, who is also her estranged, lying cheat of a husband.Not only is John''s sudden reappearance putting a kink in Poldi''s dreamy love affair with Vito Montana, but his presence also comes with a plea for help - and unwanted clashes with Mafia.Where is John''s half-brother? What is the ten-million-dollar ''it'' that John''s brother was last seen with that has both the Sicilian and Tanzanian mobs in a frenzy? With only a postcard that has a phone number and a name, ''Handsome Antonio'', on the back, Auntie Poldi hops begrudgingly (albeit with a great deal of gumption and panache) back into the saddle (in this case, an immaculate red Maserati Cabrio from the 80s with cream leather upholstery). The faster she finds Handsome Antonio, the sooner she can get John Owenya out of her hair and love-life. But the people Poldi discovers along the way may very well knock her immaculate wig askew.

There''s only one Auntie Poldi: bewigged, cursing in Bavarian, and knocking back a wee shot of grappa as a pre-breakfast aperitif ... or is there? No one is as they seem (and sound) in this hilarious new mystery featuring Sicily''s sultriest sleuth.Strange dealings are afoot in the Apostolic Palace-a nun leapt to her death shortly after participating in a seemingly routine exorcism. But when a priest clad in Gammarelli and a Vatican Commissario with an almost unholy level of sex appeal turn up at her door, Poldi is shocked to hear that she''s a suspect in their case. Who is the woman being exorcised, and where has she disappeared to? And why in the world does she claim, in perfect Bavarian, to be Poldi, Isolde Oberreiter, of Torre Achirafari? Poldi will need all the help she can get to clear her name, but her nephew has been distracted by a love affair gone sour, someone in the town has been graffitiing death threats on her front door, and her local friends seem to be avoiding her. And even Vito Montana balks when Poldi discovers that the case hinges on a lost Madonna statue, stolen years ago from the Pope himself... Forza Poldi! With a pair of mysterious twins dogging her every move and a mandate to maintain sobriety, will Poldi be able to find the lost statue in time, and survive her sixty-first birthday?

The book describes the significant multidisciplinary research findings at the Università Politecnica delle Marche and the expected future advances. It addresses some of the most dramatic challenges posed by today’s fast-growing, global society and the changes it has caused. It also discusses solutions to improve the wellbeing of human beings.

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