My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

“For example,” Mary said, “if someone asks you what time it is, don’t say ‘Oh, this watch? It was my aunt Tillie’s, an aunt on my mother’s side, who got it from a pawn shop in New Orleans when she was there for Mardi Gras. It’s been broken twice and once I had to replace the glass and another time the battery.’ Just say: ‘It is nine oh four,’ don’t give them more to question you on.” Mary leaned forward and nodded for emphasis.

 

Hospitals, I hate hospitals. They are nothing more than a giant Petri dish filled with incubating bacteria… And do not even get me started on this box they call a room. Because I am on Medicare, I’m sure they found the worst room possible to stow my body, cheap bastards.

 

Are you seriously trying to lead me through some guided relaxation therapy? We have to find Mr. Martin. You need my little gray cells firing at full force right now, stow that Namaste stuff away.

 

Then when she opened her handbag—well—we were alarmed to find weapons on her, so her check-in has been delayed. These weapons in her bag… A special can of hairspray, which emits a harmful gas. There is an umbrella with a sharp-pointed tip, so sharp it could be used as an ice pick or knife to stab someone. We found a beret with a long-pointed needle object attached, and a key chain with tips that could rip your face off. Also, she is carrying a pen that is a pepper spray canister, illegal here in Rome. Most of these are things that you can find if you know the right people of the criminal faction. But the woman had just arrived yesterday, and for her to amass such an arsenal, well, she must have a connection to some criminals.

 

Do you know where you are, Jackson? This place is a country that hosts the two most corrupt organizations in the world—the Mafia and the Vatican. Do you seriously think anyone plays by any rules here?

 

My Review:

Oh, happy day, an entire book featuring Mary, who is my favorite octogenarian. I am envious of her skills and curious as to how a tiny old woman could amass and wield such a vast arsenal of weaponry in her voluminous handbag, which always appears to have the best and newest of gadgets and tech wizardry. She is such a corker, I want to be just like Mary when I grow up. I enjoyed being privy to her snarky and irascible inner musings and sassy observations, although the complex and intriguing storylines featured multiple POVs, unending twists and turns, and a uniquely peculiar cast of characters.

In the latest standalone installment to the Lies and Misdirection series, the crafty and snappish ninety-one-year-old finds herself embroiled in a case with national security and global ramifications, Chinese and Italian/Vatican complications, several murders, fraud, forgery, money laundering, obscure Dante references, and art-theft. If that wasn’t enough, she is also in the crosshairs of an assassin.   Mr. Martin (Mary’s typically flat, enigmatic, and cryptic employee) suddenly seems to be a trouble magnet and Mary is willing to trot the globe and steadfastly determined to follow any and all leads to prove his innocence. But wait – is he really innocent? Mary seems to be the only one left believing and fervently wants him to be or it will make her look a fool for hiring him, and Mary could not possibly be wrong.