Nonna Maria and the Case of the Stolen Necklace

Nonna Maria, one of the matriarchs of the island of Ischia in the Bay of Naples, assists Paolo Murino, the captain of the local carabinieri, with two cases. They’ve developed mutual respect and trust, which is necessary when a guest at Grand Hotel Excelsior claims a valuable family necklace was stolen from her room. She blames a maid, but that maid is Nonna Maria’s goddaughter. No one ever saw the missing necklace, and Murino and Nonna Maria doubt that it exists. Nonna Maria has a plan to expose the con, though. She also gets involved in the investigation of the death of an unidentified woman when a young local man tells her he’s afraid he might have hit the body. Although that’s easily proven false, the woman’s story points at the past and the cruel separation of a mother and child. The clever solutions to the crimes derive from Nonna Maria’s knowledge of the people of Ischia.