Review: The Valentina Esposito Mysteries by Joe Giordano
Fiction, Anthology, Mysteries, Short Stories
4****
REVIEW: This is a series of short stories that were all published at one time or another in magazines. They are all connected through the main character, Valentina. She is definitely not your typical cozy mystery heroine. She was raised by nuns in an orphanage, escaped as a teen, turned tricks to earn money, got adopted by a woman who owns an Italian restaurant, finds out she’s the daughter of a mob boss and has two half-brothers, one of whom is the mob boss’s bodyguard/trouble shooter. She also works as a cyber-crime contractor for the FBI and has a police detective for a boyfriend. In each story, she is tasked by friends or acquaintances with a challenge that often leads her into dangerous situations. She relies on her wits and her brother (the bodyguard) to get her out of them. Each story is different, but Valentina, her father, brothers, and adoptive mother appear in every one. If I had any detractors at all, it was that her background is repeated in each story, becoming a bit repetitive. But the stories are entertaining and different. Though there is no HEA in any of them, they do give you an ending to the story – not always a happy one, but the story is concluded. And since they are short stories, you can read one over lunch each day.
Recommended.
BLURB: Valentina Esposito is an unlikely hero thrust into extraordinary circumstances. Abandoned as an infant to an orphanage, she’s rewritten her destiny by becoming a brilliant computer programmer with a thirst for adventure. Turns out, her biological father Frank Provati is an underboss of the Ruggerio Crime Family. With an FBI cyber consulting contract and Jack Slade, an NYPD detective boyfriend, she straddles the line between law enforcers and the lawless. The Valentina Esposito Mysteries is a collection of seven short stories.
Disclosure of Material: I received a final and/or advanced reader copy of this book with the hope that I will leave my unbiased opinion. I was not required to leave a review, positive or otherwise, and my opinions are just that… My Opinions. I am posting this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”
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