The Savino Sisters Mystery Series: Books 1 - 3

Italy To Die For (Book 1). Too much togetherness spells disaster for these thirty-something sisters vacationing in Italy. When glamorous Margo opts for a steamy romance in Florence, plain-Jane Ellen travels alone to their next destination, a charming hillside villa at La Spezia. The owner Lorenzo, a mysterious widower, insists on showing Ellen around Cinque Terre, five picturesque villages overlooking the Ligurian Sea. Ellen is determined to experience the local culture but instead encounters intrigue in Monterosso el Mare where gypsies are turning up dead faster than Lorenzo can show her the sights. Then Margo arrives, and soon discovers her own life is in danger.

Regrets To Die For (Book 2). Ellen and Margo discover there’s more to Italy than the typical tourist destinations when they check out their family roots in the foothills of the Italian Alps, much to the dismay of their sassy grandmother Clarita. Nonnie Clarita, who now lives in St. Louis, was only eighteen when she left her widowed mother in Pont Canavese and immigrated to America after the Second World War. Why she has no regrets about leaving or never returning is a mystery Ellen and Margo are determined to resolve, with or without the obstinate Clarita’s cooperation. Could it be the horrific murder of the father Clarita adored? Or the questionable suicide of Clarita’s young friend and later the drowning of the boy’s grieving father? Or, her ill-fated teenage romance with a persistent Resistance fighter that triggered this series of tragic events?

Not Worthy Dying For (Book 3). What would it take for Ellen and Margo to cut short their Italian holiday and return St. Louis? Their mother Toni’s connection to the murder of Val Corrigan, that’s what. It seems the widow Toni shared Val’s affections with her clueless best friend among other women, one who later winds up dead.

While attempting to prove their mother’s innocence, the sisters’ amateur sleuthing leads them to the decade-old renovation of a building located in the former St. Louis Garment District. El and Margo soon discover that greed and corruption within the construction industry resulted in deadly consequences for more than one victim. It’s up to the sisters to convince hard-nosed Major Case Squad Detectives Sam Reardan and Guy Winchester who resent the outside interference.

If that’s not enough, the sisters’ Nonnie Clarita’s long ago WWII teenage lover has traveled from Italy to St. Louis, determined to renew their romance and to establish a relationship with Clarita’s family.