Limoncello Yellow by Traci Andrighetti – Review, Guest Post, + 2 Giveaways

I received a paperback of this book from the author in exchange for my honest review. This post contains an affiliate link.

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Limoncello Yellow by Traci Andrighetti
A Franki Amato Mystery

From debut author, Traci Andrighetti, comes a tale of murder, mayhem, and meddling Sicilian grandmas…

Francesca “Franki” Amato is a tough-talking rookie cop in Austin, Texas—until an unfortunate 911 call involving her boyfriend, Vince, and a German female wrestler convinces her once and for all that she just isn’t cut out for a life on the police force. So Franki makes the snap decision to move to New Orleans to work at her friend Veronica’s detective agency, Private Chicks, Inc. But Franki’s hopes for a more stable life are soon dashed when Private Chicks is hired by the prime suspect in a murder case to find out what really happened to a beautiful young boutique manager who was found strangled to death with a cheap yellow scarf. When she’s not investigating, Franki is hoping to seduce handsome bank executive Bradley Hartmann, but most of her time is spent dodging date offers from a string of “good Italian boys”—make that not-so-good aging Italian men—that her meddlesome Sicilian grandma has recruited as marriage candidates. As Mardi Gras approaches and the mystery of the murdered shop girl gets more complicated, Franki must decipher the odd ramblings of a Voodoo priestess to solve both the murder and the mystery of her own love life.

“Traci Andrighetti’s Limoncello Yellow had me tickled pink! Her smart, sassy
heroine wacky cast of characters, and vividly original settings had me glued to
the page. I can’t wait to read more from this author!”
– Gemma Halliday, New York Times bestselling author

“Traci’s writing is sharp and funny; the world she paints leaps off the
page and makes the reader laugh out loud…. A thoroughly
enjoyable new voice in fiction!”
– Kristin Harmel, Internationally bestselling novelist (The Sweetness of Forgetting)


guestpost

Limoncello Yellow: My and Franki’s Favorite New Orleans Travel Destinations

One really fun aspect of being an author is picking the setting of your novel or series. When I set out to create the Franki Amato Mystery series, I wanted a colorful setting with a combination of famous and quirky places. The city that immediately came to mind? New Orleans, Louisiana.

With its exotic blend of cultures and history of pirates, plantations, voodoo, jazz and Mardi Gras celebrations, NOLA is unique in the world. And as a frequent traveler to the city, I realized that my debut novel, Limoncello Yellow, presented an opportunity to start documenting all my favorite New Orleans haunts.

So, I decided to start a personal writing tradition. Every series I create (and I have two more in mind) will serve as a kind of travel diary. My characters will hang out, investigate leads, and solve crimes in places I regularly visit. Below is a partial list of The Big Easy locales my private investigator protagonist, Francesca “Franki” Amato, visits in Limoncello Yellow.

Café du Monde
Whenever I’m in New Orleans, I start my day at this world-renowned café, and Franki does too. We can’t stop eating the little French pastries known as beignets. I mean, who can go wrong with fried dough covered in powdered-sugar (especially when they’re served with chicory coffee)? Not us Italians! After all, we’re known for our love of coffee and dough products.

Bourbon Street
If drinking at 10:00 a.m. is your thing, then skip the shops in the French Quarter and head straight to Bourbon Street. Franki and I just have to go there once in a while. Not because we’re morning drinkers, or anything, but because it’s always awesome having men shower you with beaded necklaces from overhead balconies.

Marie Laveau’s House of Voodoo
While you’re on Bourbon, do what Franki and I do to escape the strippers and waitresses selling sex and test tube shots in the streets—pop into Marie Laveau’s House of Voodoo. But brace yourself. Besides the cute little love potions and brightly colored gris gris bags tied with ribbon, there are severed alligator heads and chicken feet. And watch out for the voodoo priestess Odette Malveaux. I’ll say no more.

Carousel Bar and Lounge
You’ll need a drink after visiting Marie Laveau’s—I know Franki and I always do. So go to the Hotel Monteleone and check out the famous Carousel Bar and Lounge. Ernest Hemingway wrote there, and I did too (LOL). And yes, the bar really looks like a carousel. But be careful not to drink too much, because it spins like one too.

Central Grocery
To avoid a hangover from all that drinking at the Carousel, eat a hearty meal. One sure-fire gut buster: the historic muffuletta sandwich, which was created at Central Grocery on Decatur Street in the early 1900s to feed Sicilian farmers. Franki’s dad got his start in the deli business at Central Grocery, so she’s eaten more muffulettas than she cares to remember. But for my dad and me, the muffuletta is the pièce de résistance of any trip to the weird, wild and wonderful city of New Orleans.

bookreview
Limoncello Yellow by Traci Andrighetti is such a great book! I absolutely loved it. Franki Amato is sassy, funny and smart. I felt a connection to her right away, like someone that I would love to be friends with. The mystery that Traci Andrighetti weaves is awesome. I was enthralled and guessing clear until the end. I loved Franki’s crazy family and her friends.

The characters and the settings were well-developed. I really felt transported to NOLA while I was reading. Traci definitely has me hooked on the Franki Amato mystery series, and I cannot wait for the next one! This is a fabulous mix of chick lit, humor, and mystery. One of my favorite reads of 2014 so far!

About the Author

Traci Andrighetti-11bTraci Andrighetti is the author of the Franki Amato Mystery series. In her previous life, she was an award-winning literary translator and a Lecturer of Italian at the University of Texas at Austin, where she earned a PhD in Applied Linguistics. But then she got wise and ditched that academic stuff for a life of crime—writing, that is.

If she’s not hard at work on her next novel, Traci is probably watching her favorite Italian soap opera, eating Tex Mex or sampling fruity cocktails, and maybe all at the same time. She lives in Austin with her husband, young son (who desperately wants to be in one of her books) and three treat-addicted dogs.

Traci’s Links:
Website: http://traciandrighetti.com
Blog: http://traciandrighetti.com/blog/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/traciandrighettiauthor
Twitter: @TAndrighetti
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7383577.Traci_Andrighetti

Giveaways!!

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

Traci is also generously offering one US winner the chance to win a paperback of Limoncello Yellow. Awesome! Just enter using the Giveaway Tools widget below for your chance to win. This giveaway is open to US only, no PO Boxes.

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