Another great book in the Nonna Maria series! Once again Nonna Maria must help her friends. This time she is helping her friend locate a lost treasure and keeping her good friend Captain Murino of the Caribineri and his fiancee safe from an assassin who is out to kill him for putting a criminal behind bars years ago. Not only does she make plans to keep her friends safe but also has time to teach her granddaughters to make pizza and to make elaborate meals for her friends. Warning - You will want to out for an Italian dinner after reading this book. This is the third book in the series. If you haven't read the previous Nonna Marie series you should.
Thanks to Random House and Netgalley for allowing me to read an ARC in exchange for an honest review

I try to avoid picking up books mid-series but I was drawn to both the cover and description when this book showed up in an email. I’m glad I took the chance. With a lovely cast of characters and a great setting, it was a nice read.

A target of a decades-long revenge plot, Captain Murino turns to Nonna Maria for help. On the other side of the island of Ischia, another person connected to Nonna Maria offers forth an old treasure map. This, too, is brought to Nonna Maira and the book follows both plot lines.

It took some getting used to the dual plot in a cozy mystery, at least how it was presented here. Both were easy to follow, I just can’t recall ever reading a book with this format in this particular genre. There is a great deal of action in the book which helped keep both plots moving along well.

Though third in the series, Nonna Maria and the Case of the Lost Treasure stands well on its own. As with any series, I think you get the best experience reading in over, however, I didn’t find it completely necessary. That said, I would love to go back and read the first two books.

A huge thanks to Random House and NetGalley for providing me with a free digital ARC of the book!

food, island-life, assassins, secrets, lies, investigations, protection, Italy, Italian-customs, historical-places-events, historical-research, historical-setting, history-and-culture, friendship, friends, local-law-enforcement, local-gossip, cozy-crime, widow, senior-citizens, amateur-sleuth, septuagenarian, relationships, relatives, family-history, family, false-identities, caves, revenge*****

I've been waiting for this! This is NOT an unbiased review as I love each book in series and will make sure to get the audio because print copies have a way of walking away with friends and family. Nonna Maria has two major issues going on plus we get a detailed history lesson of people and deeds done on the island during WW2 (and smugglers anytime). The story has it all: revenge, romance, carabinieri, assassins, friendship, false identities, and fascinating aspects of history. Terrific read!
I requested and received a free temporary EARC from Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Bantam via NetGalley. Thank you!
Available 07 May 2024 #NonnaMariaBk3

Nonna Maria has lived her entire life on the island of Ischia. She is familiar to all for her kindness, generosity, local knowledge, and ability to solve problems, particularly if they involve crimes. To her, though, it is not solving crimes, it is helping friends. She is quite resourceful. Everyone loves her; even the head of the Comorra.

Once again, there are two “cases” in which she becomes involved. Her good friend, the captain of the carabinieri, has become the target of assassins as revenge for his having arrested a crime lord years ago in Florence. She also teams up with some local characters to help the granddaughter of a deceased friend find treasure that he hid in one of Ischia’s caves years ago. Both cases place Nonna Maria in danger.

This is a cozy mystery Italian style with wine and espresso instead of tea. Nonna Maria is a beguiling older woman known not only for her wiles but also for serving wine, her special coffee, and delicious homemade food and pastries. She is surrounded by unique and equally charming characters.

This is the third in the series; it would work as a standalone. Read this book and the series not only for the mysteries, which are interesting, but also to savor island life and appreciate the special charm of Nonna Maria. And, oh, those descriptions of Italian food! Yum!

Nonna Maria and her cast of friends is back to solve another mystery and stop an even bigger crime. First the mystery, an old friend has passed and left his granddaughter a map to possible hidden treasure. Can Nonna Maria and her cast of friends solve the clues and find the hidden treasure without it being stolen by other treasure hunters? The bigger crime you ask? Captain Murino, the local carabinieri is being targeted by assassins from Northern Italy. Although hesitant to put anyone in danger, he may need Nonna Maria and her friends to help stop the assassins.

I enjoyed this book, the setting, the characters are funny and fun. A pirate in a speedo and bandana who can beat that. I was a bit disappointed with the assassin story, I figured out who the culprit behind the hit was fairly quickly as it was quite obvious to me. Although, the plot was fine and it explained what was behind the hit, it felt unoriginal. Overall, a good read, I do enjoy the characters and the setting quite a lot. Those make for an enjoyable read.

This was such a great cozy mystery! I really enjoyed every aspect of this book! Lorenzo Carcaterra did an amazing job bringing both the characters and the setting to life, while at the same time telling a really enjoyable story. I was hooked from the first chapter and I never wanted to put this book down! Two brilliant mysteries in one book and Nonna Maria is such a lovable character. I can't ask for anything better from a cozy mystery. Not only is Nonna Maria a great character, but so is everyone else! I think Captain Murino is one of my favorites, but everyone in this book has such depth to them that it really elevates the story for me.

I read Nonna Maria and the Case of the Lost Treasure without having read the previous two books in the Nonna Maria series, but didn't have a problem getting into this one at all! Though, because I enjoyed it so much I absolutely plan to read the other books when I get the chance. And I suspect having read the other books would have made me love and appreciate this one more.

Definitely a top tier cozy mystery that I'd recommend to anyone looking for something in this genre. Nonna Maria and the Case of the Lost Treasure is somehow thrilling and heartwarming at the same time and I really enjoyed it! I hope there are future books because I can't wait to see more of Nonna Maria and her friends! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC of Nonna Maria and the Case of the Lost Treasure in exchange for an honest review!

Nonna Marie is on a mission to save the life of the Captain of the caribineri from an unauthorized hit. She uses her connections to assist the Captain. In addition she brings her close connections to smugglers to aid in a search for missing treasure. Nonna Maria is a wonder. i always laugh when she says she doesn't drink water. Another fun book.

Nonna Maria is an elderly widow living on the island of Ischia, off the coast of Italy. She's worn black since her husband died years ago. She befriends and is a friend to all who live on the island, including Captain Murino, head of the carabinieri, who life is now in danger from members of an organized crime ring which he broke up several years ago. Some of those members are still serving prison terms and biding their time.

Her young friend, Rita, comes to her with a fragment of a map, showing treasure buried in a cave. Nonna Maria is also friends with other semi-retired criminals and those who lived on the edges of the law. Nonna Maria knows just who to call for help and get the treasure to Rita. Of course, there is no honor among thieves, who knows if Rita will end up with the treasure or not.

Third in the series ( this is the first one I have read), the story celebrates friendship and loyalty and sharing genuine concern for others. And Nonna Marie, an elderly woman, is one sharp cookie. A delightful read.

This is such a fun cozy series! I really love the world of Ischia and its colorful characters. Carcaterra has done a really lovely job crafting a universe that is endearing, heartwarming, and full of mischief - and just enough action and adventure to keep things interesting. Nonna Maria is such a delight, and I'm enjoying the burgeoning relationships between her and the other residents.

Nonna Maria is always ready and willing to lend a helping hand to friends and neighbors. First Captain Murino turn to his old friend for help when someone from his past threatens his future. Then there is the granddaughter of an old friend, who seeks her help to find a treasure her grandfather has left for her. Nonna Maria would never let a friend in need down and is on both cases.

This has got to be the best entry in this series date. I love the protagonist and want to be her when I grow up. Filled with action, mayhem and hijinx, this one is sure to please any cozy reader.

The Nonna Maria series is a "cozy" trio (so far) centering on a grandmother who lives on the Italian island of Ischia and likes to, as she puts it, help her friends. These friends stumble into deadly territory in each of the books, and Nonna Maria serenely gets them out of it. The books give the reader a warm, wonderful feeling of visiting friends on the island and sharing their lives.

This book is a little darker than the first two. There are two separate plots: a young friend of Nonna Maria's has a legacy that might be a fortune, but was hidden in the winding depths of the Ischian caves, and her friend, the carabiniere Captain Murino, is marked for execution by a criminal he helped put away years before. The latter takes us into the world of vicious crime families and the former into the murky world of dedicated, competitive treasure hunters, including some with dubious pasts.

There is also less of Nonna Maria in this book than there was in the first two, and I missed her presence. The chapters dealing with the Murino plot were interesting, but I was impatient to get back to our old lady. And the Murino plot lacks suspense, because we find out about halfway through the book who the assassin is (or meant to be).

One of the great pleasures of this series is the way it takes you into the Ischia of the natives, but there was less of that in this book, too.

Finally, I have to call out the author's habit of over-using two words. "Nodded" occurs in the book 71 times (I have it on Kindle and I searched for it), and "ease" as a verb (e.g., "Carnale eased the cigar from his mouth") 34 times. I read an uncorrected proof (thanks to NetGalley and Bantam), and it's possible that some of this will be rewritten before the book is published. However, "nodded" also appears excessively in the previous two books in the series.

Nonna Maria, the beloved amateur sleuth living on the peaceful Italian island of Ischia, has a knack for involving herself in some interesting yet hair raising situations and this is no exception. Upon his death bed Rita’s grandfather gives her a map to hidden treasure. And the hunt begins, But the hunt for the treasure is only half of the story. Nonna Maria’s beloved friend Paolo Murina, currently captain of the island’s Cabinieri, once put away a major crime boss on the Italian mainland and his cronies are out for revenge. A would-be assassin has come to the island with Captain Murina as his target. Nonna Maria along with her friends set out to find the lost treasure and also ensure Captain Murino does not fall victim to the assassin’s bullet A quick read with a charming heroine, this is perfect for cozy mystery fans.

An ARC - Nonna Maria grandmother and friend with all the people On the Island of Ischia in Italy. Everyone goes to Nonna Maria with their problems for her to solve for them. This time Rita a young lady asks for help to find a lost treasure that her grandfather told her about and hearing that someone was going to kill Captain Marino of the Carabinieris (Police) started to get help to stop the killing another quick read with Nonna Maria!

Thank you to NetGalley and Bantam for this advanced reader copy of one of my most anticipated books of 2024. As with each book in the Nonna Maria series, I was firmly pulled in from chapter one and couldn't stop reading. This book in particular gave a rich back story to quite a few characters in prior stories, and was a much deeper and satisfying story than books one and two (which I also loved!). As always, new characters were added, who I hope to see again. There are few authors who can make me want to visit the setting of a book, but I am pretty determined to see the island of Ischia, Italy where Nonna has all her adventures. I'm hoping eventually the author may do a prequel and write about Gabriel and Ninja as a young married couple someday!

Ischia- home of Nonna Maria. We begin with a man sitting in a cafe known for the art of murder.
Nonna Maria is known to all as the storyteller within the story we will read and labeled “the widow woman in the way”.
A young woman, Rita, the daughter of Paolino Iocone, recently deceased, had been asked by her father to visit Nonna Maria to help her find a treasure deep in the caves of the island, and, of course, there is a castle, a worn map, deep caverns hiding secrets and treasures, and the presence of
organized crime arriving on the island.
Captain Marino had once arrested Ostino, leader of a criminal group in Florence.
Marino believes his life is at stake and despite his desire to shelter her, Nonna Maria forges ahead to find justice and always to care for her close-knit community.
Two organizations -the Camorra and the Mourners, widows of the violence of war- are out for revenge and Nonna Maria is off and running: for the good, the bad and the in-between, all to be reckoned with.
The center of every Nonna Maria venture is this, spoken by the bad guy: “love more than hate or revenge, gives us all the strength we need to win any fight we find ourselves in”.
Known others from Lorenzo Carcaterra’s Nonna Maria adventures enter the search for the treasure: the Pirate, Shaw, Pepe the Painter, in his third decade of treasure hunting, is following the steps of Paolino Iacone.
There are caves, criminals, pirates, a magician, a corrupt policeman and an unknown renegade shooter.
This series
is full of fascinating and informational cultural and historical
descriptions.
Perhaps one of the most important of
is the focus on community and the concern and care for each other. Something we all should take to heart at all times.
There is no ending without all the delights of Italian cooking, wine, generational friends who are always at hand.
Oh, that there always be a Nonna Maria.

Once the story grabs you, you'll be hooked. Don't let the modern cover fool you. In its pages are descriptions of food and wine, friendships and alliances, enemies and action.

This exciting story of protection and loyalty grips you with its behind-the-scenes calling in of favors and history. I thoroughly enjoyed every surprise and every twist.

Read it at night and prepare for vivid dreams of old places, good meals, and intrigue.

Nonna Maria is an elderly widow living on the island of Ischia, off the coast of Italy. A young woman, Rita, comes to her for advice about some hidden treasure her recently deceased grandfather mentioned. Hidden in a cave. Nonna gets some of her old local friends who are familiar with the caves to help. Meanwhile, another friend who is a carabiniere is the intended target of an organized crime figure he helped put in prison. Can Nonna really help? She is always there for her friends. In addition to being a captivating mystery, this story celebrates friendship, and shows that it isn’t always the younger people who save the day. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Unexpectedly really enjoyed this one! While the description and premise was appealing to me, it became quickly obvious to me that this is part of a series. However, this still reads like a stand alone (at least to me) and I thoroughly enjoyed the characters and the pacing. I love a good treasure hunt and I'm already on the look out for the previous books of the series.

Although I had not read the first 2 books in this series, I found this cozy mystery charming. Nonna Marie is an adventuresome grandmother who loves and protects her family and her friends. Fun to read.

I received an email asking me to read this, but it was not mentioned that this was part of a series. In fact, it is the third installment so while I wasn't totally confused, I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had read the first two books in the series. Therefore, I will be reviewing on netgalley and review on goodreads when I have read the other two books.

I was kind of surprised at how graphic some of the fighting scenes were, nothing horror level, but I was also not expecting it.

I do really love our main character Nonna Maria! The author has really developed an excellent character that I want to continue to know more about.