For Alberta Scaglione, her golden years are turning out much more differently than she expected—and much more deadly . . . Alberta Scaglione’ s spinster aunt had some secrets—like the fortune she squirreled away and a secret lake house in Tranquility, New Jersey. More surprising: she’s left it all to Alberta. Alberta, a widow, is no spring chicken and she’s gotten used to disappointment. So … to disappointment. So having a beautiful view, surrounded by hydrangeas, honeysuckle, and her cat, Lola, sounds blissful after years of yelling and bickering and cooking countless lasagnas.
But Tranquility isn’t as peaceful as it sounds. There’s a body in the water—and it belongs to Alberta’s childhood nemesis. Alberta suspects foul play and when Alberta’s estranged granddaughter, an aspiring crime reporter, shows up, it only makes sense for them to team up and investigate . . .
Includes Italian recipes from Alberta’s kitchen!
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Dollycas’s Thoughts
Most of us hope we have a long lost relative that will leave us a fortune. Well, Alberta Scaglione thought she knew her aunt quite well, but was totally surprised to find she had quite a nest egg and a house on the lake in Tranquility, New Jersey. Even more surprising was she left it all to Alberta. Alberta and her cat quickly moved to the house on Memory Lake. The view was idyllic until it was marred by a dead body in the lake. The dead body of someone she knows.
Alberta’s relationship with her daughter has always been strained. Her daughter and her family moved to Florida several years ago and have never come back, even for a visit, so Alberta is thrilled when her granddaughter accepts a job nearby as a journalist. Her dream is to be a hard news crime reporter so she jumps at the chance to team up with her grandmother on a little murder investigation of their own. But will they take it a step too far and put themselves in danger??
Our protagonist is an Italian grandmother and she doesn’t let her age get in the way of doing what she wants. Alberta and her granddaughter Jinx take on a lot to solve this murder mystery. Alberta knew it was murder way before the police did, she even had to point out the clues to her old friend, Chief Vinny D’Angelo. To get close to her suspects and to get information Alberta takes a job where the victim worked. She and Jinx come up with some zany ideas. They even get Alberta’s sister, a former nun, and sister-in-law, who they like much more than their brother, involved in their plans. This is a wonderful group of core characters. They have depth but the author has left them plenty of room to grow as the series continues.
Mr. Griffo has written an elaborate mystery with twists and turns and a unique motive. Several characters seem to have had means and opportunity but the motive seems to be the same. Watching the ladies try to figure out the victim’s “collection” was so enjoyable and at times really funny and sometimes scary. I liked that they sometimes split up or worked in pairs to do their inquiries and they met around the kitchen table to share their findings and theories. Like any Italian family food and drink was also involved, but Jinx trying to make Alberta’s recipes more health conscious was an epic fail Sometimes their ideas were pretty out there. I had zeroed in on the killer just before Alberta but the way the ending played out was very exciting.
I liked the bits of Italian we learn throughout the story. The dialogue ran true and always had a nice flow.
Tranquility, New Jersey sounds like a really nice place to vacay. I sure enjoyed my first visit.
I was ready to give up on this book around the half way mark but somehow managed to keep listening and finally got a little more into it. The family dynamics were way too much explained for my taste and even though there were some interesting characters I never felt any connection to them.
Things are looking up for Alberta Scaglione in her retirement. She’s inherited money and a cabin on Memory Lake from an aunt, and her granddaughter, Jinx, has come back into her life thanks to a job for the local paper in Tranquility, New Jersey. However, things take a sad turn when Alberta finds the body of her childhood nemesis in the lake. Alberta quickly realizes the woman was murdered, and Jinx talks Alberta into investigating to jump start her transition to crime reporter. Can they solve the case?
The book starts out with a couple of chapters that are little more than data dumps, giving us the background on the characters. Yes, we need to know the information, but it could have been slipped into the novel better. The mystery itself is strong with several viable suspects and a logical trail to the great climax with some fun red herrings along the way. Alberta and Jinx are joined by another couple family members, and the four women are a delight, making me laugh a few times. The book is written in omniscient point of view, but mostly sticking with Alberta and Jinx. It mostly works, but it allows for passages of the characters pondering life. These felt like they’d be more at home in a literary novel than a mystery. The book closes out with a few recipes. The bones of the book are good, but overall, it felt overwritten. There is enough enjoyable elements to the book that if you are curious about the book, I recommend you check it out and see what you think for yourself.
A delightful read. It started slow for me (getting to know the background & all) but glad I stuck with it because it definitely picked up and had me hooked till the end. I love the group of family ladies. They are all smart and witty. They work well together. Alberta reminds me a lot like my own grandmother and I could see her doing half the things Alberta did. There were a lot of good words of wisdom that reminded me of my own family. Very relatable to me. Good mystery. Lots of twists and even though I thought I knew who the killer was, I didn’t know the road to how it would be resolved or all the whys involved. My only complaint was that I would have used the translations for all of the Italian because even though I knew quite a few from my childhood, I couldn’t figure them all out and since I was reading in paperback, I had to stop and look them up (would have been better on an ebook because then I could have just clicked on it.) Am excited to read more of this family.
This was such an enjoyable read! The characters are such fun and the story of their meeting and interacting and trying to solve a murder is so well done. It had a lot of laugh out loud sections and enough character development that one really cared about what happened to these delightful people.
Just a good story. Enjoyed the easy read.
Very good cant wait till her next one comes out.
It was sad because she was estranged from her daughter. But wonderful because her granddaughter came back to share her life. It was unbelievable in the underwater ingregue. Very hard for me to imagine all that being played out.
Kind of drags. I stopped reading it halfway through.
Not very believable.
I liked the inaction ob the main characters and I liked the surprised ending as who wa the real killer.
I like the characters, the setting, and the fun.
Some entertaining humor, good mix of characters but much of it was pretty silly.
Murder on Memory Lake by J.D. Griffo is the debut of The Ferrara Family Mystery series. Alberta Scaglione is surprised when she learns her recently deceased aunt, Carmela had an estate and left it entirely to her. It turns out that Carmela kept some secrets which included a lake house in Tranquility, New Jersey and a large amount of money. The only caveat is that she cannot give away any of the money (i.e.—to her greedy relatives) for two years (she knew her niece well). Alberta’s family used to vacation in Tranquility for two weeks every summer. One morning, Alberta is sitting on the porch of her new home enjoying the view of the lake with her cat, Lola when she spots a dead body. The victim is Alberta’s old high school nemesis, Lucy Agnostino. While Chief Vinny D’Angelo is ready to declare it an accidental drowning, Alberta states it is murder and she can prove it. Alberta’s granddaughter and local journalist, Jinx arrives during the hubbub for their weekly breakfast. It turns out that the victim was murdered, and Alberta intends to track down the killer. Jinx wants to prove her worth to her boss, so she teams up with Alberta to unravel the whodunit. They get help from Helen, Alberta’s sister (and former nun) along with their former sister-in-law, Joyce (they actually prefer her to their brother). These four ladies use their wits and connections to crack the case.
Murder on Memory Lake is a quirky cozy mystery filled with larger-than-life characters. Alberta is a widow of Italian descent living in New Jersey and frequently uses Italian words and phrases. Helen is a former nun, Joyce is their former sister-in-law, and Jinx (aka Gina) is Alberta’s granddaughter who just moved back to New Jersey. Each woman has a different skill or knowledge which aids them in solving the case. Their diverse personalities does lead to frequent disagreements. There are numerous characters introduced throughout the story. It seems that many of Alberta’s former classmates have relocated to Tranquility (what a coincidence). I wish the author had taken the time to flesh out Alberta’s character. She feels like a caricature. The Italian phrases and words that she throws into conversations quickly became annoying and they are not always explained/translated. I thought the author was overly wordy which led to a slower pace (a little rewriting would have made a difference). The dialogue (except for the Italian bits) was realistic and fits with the characters. The point-of-view switches between Alberta and Jinx providing two distinct perspectives. The ladies investigate the mystery in their own way and update each other on their progress while indulging in delectable delights. The ladies tend to jump to conclusions that are not supported by facts or evidence. The mystery is slightly convoluted with a drawn out ending. Most readers will arrive at the solution long before it is revealed. I am giving Murder on Memory Lake 3 out of 5 stars. Murder on Memory Lake has unique characters, humor, a black cat, a lovely setting and a curious murder mystery.