CHARACTER INTERVIEW WITH TRACI ANDRIGHETTI'S FRANCESCCA LUCIA AMATO

ABOUT THE BOOK

It’s Mardi Gras season in New Orleans, but PI Franki Amato has too many problems to celebrate. A proven Sicilian lemon tradition hasn’t landed her a proposal, so her nonna has amped up the meddling to get her married, and pronto. Franki’s also under pressure to solve the strange murder of a family friend’s nephew, Nick Pescatore, who was found on a Mississippi River steamboat rumored to be haunted. When the sinister old boat sets sail on an overnight gambling cruise, Franki goes undercover with a motley crew, including a Mark Twainophile captain with a murderous past and a slimy galley chef with a mobster brother, not to mention an ex-stripper landlady with a newfound career as a memoir writer and all-too public speaker. Franki has to figure out what missing Civil War gold, a playing card, and a mysterious woman on roller skates have to do with Nick’s death. If she doesn’t, it’s anchors aweigh for Franki—down to Davy Jones’ locker.


Book Details:


Title: Galliano Gold

Author: Traci Andrighetti

Genre: cozy mystery


Series: Franki Amato Mysteries book 5


Publisher: Limoncello Press (October 1, 2019)

Print length: 340 pages

On tour with: Great Escapes Book Tours




ALL ABOUT FRANCESCA LUCIA AMATO

Basic

Name: Francesca Lucia Amato
Nickname: Franki
Age: Almost 31—but not there yet
Height: 5’10”
Weight: Around 170, give or take ten pounds
Hair color: brown
Hair style: long and straight
Eye color: brown
Relationship status: she’s happy to be in one.


Name of romantic partner: Bradley Hartmann, but it’s complicated.

Neat or messy dresser? Franki is a casual dresser. She’s a PI, so she doesn’t want to stand out.


Does she have any mannerisms? She will occasionally do the scongiuri, and Italian gesture to ward off back luck. It looks like the Hook ‘em Horns gesture, but upside down.


Does she have any quirks? Lots. But who’s counting?

Does she have any speak with an accent? No, but her meddlesome Sicilian nonna does.
Is this a main character or supporting character? Franki is the main character in a cast of, well, characters.



Personality

Is she an introvert or extrovert? As a PI, Franki is an extrovert with some introvert tendencies.


Does she have any bad habits? She has a touch of hypochondria, although she doesn’t think so.


What is her motto? When life gives you lemons, make Limoncello. And drink it.


What is her sinful little habit? Drinking and eating sweets, often in large quantities.


What sense does she most rely on? Her gut.


What is her obsession? Nutella.


What is her pet peeve? Her family coming to visit.


Where’s her favorite hangout place? Thibodeaux’s Tavern, a bar across the street from her apartment.


Is she superstitious? Her Sicilian nonna taught her to be superstitious, but she doesn’t want to be. Nor does she want to believe in the supernatural, but some spooky things happen down in New Orleans.


Is she a messy or a neat housekeeper? Neat, but that’s because she’s not home much. And her mom and Nonna often drive down from Houston. When they do, they have a tendency to take over her apartment and run the show.


Describe her home. Franki rents a furnished apartment in a New Orleans fourplex owned by Glenda O’Brien, a sixty-something ex-stripper who dresses like she’s still onstage. The fourplex is across the street from a bar and a creepy cemetery. Her home can best be described in an excerpt from Limoncello Yellow, book 1 in the Franki Amato mysteries: 
“The room was the home-decor equivalent of Amsterdam’s Red Light District. The walls were covered in fuzzy, blood-red wallpaper with shiny gold fleurs-de-lis, and hanging from the ceiling was a baroque red-and-black crystal chandelier. The couch was a rococo chaise lounge in velvet zebra print, and next to it was a lilac velour armchair with gold fringe that matched the drapery to perfection. On the opposite wall there was a mahogany wood fireplace with a hearth covered in white candles of various sizes and shapes. In front of the fireplace, a bearskin rug replete with a bear head covered the hardwood floors. The only thing missing was the red fluorescent light in the living room window signaling my availability for prospective clients.”


Is she serious or laid back? She’s both, depending on what kind of character or crime she’s dealing with.


What does she do first thing on a weekday morning? Go back to sleep.


What does she do on a Sunday afternoon? Sleep a lot more.


Does she prefer alcohol or soft drinks? Franki often drinks the Italian liqueurs and wines mentioned in the book titles.

Friends and Family

What is her perception of family? Frank is Italian-American and has a crazy family that she loves…most of the time.


Does she have any pets? She has a Cairn “terror” named Napoleon.


Who are her enemies? Detective Wesley Sullivan. He appears in books three through five, which are Amaretto Amber, Campari Crimson, and my new release, Galliano Gold. Whether he returns depends upon your interpretation of the Galliano Gold ending.


Is she in a relationship? Yes, with Bradley Hartmann, a banker by profession.


Has she ever had her heart broken? Twice, once by Todd in college and then by Vince after college. Both of them cheated on her, and she hasn’t forgotten that.


Does she have a sidekick? Franki has several sidekicks because she often investigates with other characters in the mysteries. But Veronica Maggio, her best friend and the owner of Private Chicks, Incorporated, the PI firm where Franki works, is her primary sidekick.

Conflict

How does she respond to a threat? She gets scared, but she leaps into action nevertheless.

What are her phobias? Health problems.

What is her choice of weapon? Her mouth.

Is she confrontational? When she’s confronted, which is often in New Orleans.

Does she carry a weapon? A purple Ruger. She thinks pink is too girly.

Work, Education and Hobbies

What is her current job? Franki is a private investigator in The Big Easy, which is hard.

What she think about her current job? She loves working for her best friend, and after her experience with her partner, Stan, as a rookie cop in Austin, being a PI is a thrill.

What are her hobbies? She doesn’t have time for hobbies. Investigating crime is a 24/7 job.

What is her educational background? She went to the University of Texas at Austin (Hook ‘em), where she studied criminology and Italian.

Does she have any special training? As I mention above, she was a rookie cop, but she didn’t last long.

Does she have a natural talent for something? Eating, and poking her nose in other people’s business.

Possessions

What is in her fridge? An open bottle of Chianti and some pasta sauce. In her pantry is a year’s supply of Nutella.

What is on her bedside table? Her alarm, her gun, and her phone.

What is in her car? Nothing. It’s a 1965 cherry red Mustang convertible, and she’s afraid someone will cut open the top.

Miscellaneous

Is she comfortable with technology? Franki knows how to use her phone and laptop, but there are two Computer Science students from Tulane working at Private Chicks—David Savoie and Standish “The Vassal” Standifer—so she doesn’t have to be too tech savvy.

If she could call one person for help, who would it be? Her dad, but he’s busy running the family deli, Amato’s, in Houston. 


What would she do if she won the lottery? She would move out of her bordello chic apartment and buy a house.

What is her idea of perfect happiness? An evening with her love, Bradley, and a candle-lit Italian dinner.

What would she ask a fortune teller? Whether Bradley will ask her to marry her before the Sicilian lemon tradition her nonna tricked her into runs out . . .

ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Traci Andrighetti is the USA TODAY bestselling author of the Franki Amato Mysteries and the Danger Cove Hair Salon Mysteries. 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. Her latest capers are teaching mystery for Savvy Authors and taking authors on writing retreats to Italy with LemonLit.

Connect with Traci:
Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads  |  Instagram  |  Bookbub  |  Amazon

Buy the book:
Amazon

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Featured Author: Traci Andrighetti

About the book:

For Franki Amato, life in New Orleans is anything but “The Big Easy.” When she met handsome bank executive Bradley Hartmann, she knew she’d finally found a man she could trust. But she can’t say the same for his sexy new secretary, who is about as trustworthy as Mata Hari and every bit as seductive. Meanwhile, Franki’s best friend and employer, Veronica Maggio, has named her the lead investigator in the murder of a gorgeous cosmetics CEO who was found lying dead in the master bedroom of a historic plantation home.

Now the pressure is on Franki to figure out what a bottle of pink lip gloss and the legend of a pink diamond have to do with the bizarre killing. The problem is that the plantation is notorious for being haunted, and Franki is less than enthusiastic about the prospect of meeting a ghost. Adding to her stress, her Sicilian grandma is up to her usual meddling antics—this time planning Franki’s engagement to Bradley before he’s even considered popping the question. As Bradley grows distant and plantation employees begin dropping like Southern belles during a sweltering summer, Franki turns to a psychic with a phobia of ghosts to solve the mysterious murders and her own relationship fears.

Interview with Traci Andrighetti

Traci, what’s the story behind the title Prosecco Pink?
All of my books' titles have an Italian liqueur or wine with a color – hence my author tagline “Cocktails, color and crime. With an Italian twist.” So, the first book in the Franki Amato series is Limoncello Yellow, and a short Christmas story I wrote about Franki is called “Rosolio Red” (Rosolio is a liqueur made from rose petals). Of course, my latest release is Prosecco Pink. In all the cases, both the liqueur and the color are tied to the mystery. So, I’d love to tell you more about the title, but that would mean giving away a huge part of the plot!

Tell us about your Franki Amato series. Is this book a standalone, or do readers need to read the series in order?
Prosecco Pink is part of the Franki Amato mystery series. But, if you read my reviews on Amazon, for example, you’ll see that a lot of readers have said that the books can be read out of order.

What do you love about where you live?

There are a lot of things to love about Austin, Texas. For starters, our motto is “Keep Austin Weird,” which really just means that we support our local businesses. Then, of course, there’s The University of Texas (Hook ‘em horns!), amazing barbeque like Franklin’s, the SXSW musical festival (not to mention Austin City Limits), and, most recently, Formula One racing. So, Austin just keeps getting better all the time.

What are your most cherished mementoes?
I have two items that are really special to me. One is a clear, quartz rock that I dug up in an alley when I was twelve (I thought it looked like a giant diamond), and the other is an old-fashioned key I bought from a flea market in Rome on my second day ever in Italy. The quartz ties me to my childhood, and the key reminds me of my personal connection to Italy.

If you could only save one thing from your house, what would it be?
Well, besides my laptop, I would grab a huge, original poster of the movie Some Like it Hot from my wall. It’s the Italian version, so the title is actually A qualcuno piace caldo. I love it because Marilyn Monroe looks fabulous in a tight black dress, and because Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon are dressed it drag.

What’s one of your favorite quotes?
I recently read a quote by the director Richard Linklater (an Texas original). He was asked about the fact that he had invested a lot of his own money in his last two films, and he explained his decision by saying, “You kind of have to bet on yourself in this world.” It’s a simple statement, but one that I profoundly agree with.

If you could live anywhere in the world, where in the world would it be?
That’s easy. The Eternal City — Rome, Italy. A lot of people think it’s dirty and noisy, but I think it’s lived in and alive. After all, “Roma” is “amor (love)” backwards. ;)

How did you create the plot for this book?
I was inspired by a visit to Oak Alley plantation in Vacherie, Louisiana. I took some friends who were visiting from Rome there, because I wanted them to see something that doesn’t exist in Italy. I’d been there before, but there was something about seeing the place through their eyes that convinced me it would be an intriguing location for a murder. To create the plot, I used a lot of elements from the mansion, itself, as well as elements from my own imagination.

Are any of your characters inspired by real people?
Yes! Franki, Veronica, David, and Franki’s nonna, Carmela, were all inspired by real people. So, if you think Carmela is too crazy to be real, think again. ;) The only one of my recurring characters who isn’t based on a real person is Franki and Veronica’s aging stripper landlady, Glenda. She was based on a group of strippers I met when I accidentally ended up in their dressing room in New Orleans (long story).

Where and when do you prefer to do your writing?
Well, I would prefer to do my writing all day long in my house. But, I have a day job, so I have to do it in the middle of the night and on weekends. And sometimes I like to write at a coffee shop down the street from my house. Getting all jacked up on caffeine has its advantages.

What would your dream office look like?
Actually, I just created my dream office in my home, and it looks a lot like a guest bedroom. I like to lie down when I write, so I got rid of my desk and put a day bed in the room. The room is orange, has a giant black bookshelf in it, and it’s filled with knickknacks and treasures from Rome, including a poster of the movie Gidget Goes to Rome with the coliseum prominently featured. I now call my office my “Roman writing room.”

How did you find your publisher, and how long did your query process take?
My story is completely crazy (no surprise there). I had maybe written a third of Limoncello Yellow when a fellow author encouraged me to submit the first 2,000 words of the novel to a contest to win a Kindle and month of mentoring. The next thing you know, I had a two-book deal in hand. I still can’t believe it.

What are you working on now?
Honestly, I’m working on a book in a new series that I’m not yet at liberty to talk about. But watch for it in the summer. It’s going to be big, but not for the reasons you might think. ;)

Other books by Traci:

About the author:

Traci Andrighetti is the national bestselling author of the Franki Amato mysteries. 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.



Connect with Traci:

Website  | Blog  | 
Facebook  |  
Twitter  |  Goodreads

Buy the book:
Barnes & Noble  |  
iTunes  |  
Kobo  | Smashwords 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Featured Author: Traci Andrighetti

I'm happy to have Traci Andrighetti back today as part of her tour with CLP Blog Tours. She was here in February for an interview, and she's returned today to share an excerpt from Limoncello Yellow. Want to win a $35 Amazon gift card? Keep scrolling to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway.

About the book:

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.

Excerpt from Limoncello Yellow

I parked in front of my new home. Before I could get out of the car, Veronica was already walking out her front door, smiling and waving with Hercules in tow in a turquoise fuzzy sweater that matched hers perfectly. Despite her Sicilian father, Veronica looked Swedish like her ex-ballerina mother, with long blonde hair, cornflower blue eyes, and pale skin.  
    
"Franki!" Veronica yelled.

I bent over—at the waist—to hug her. I'd forgotten how tiny she was, and I wondered for at least the hundredth time how her internal organs could function in such a small frame.
She looked up at me and smiled. "How does it feel to be in New Orleans?"
I glanced over at the cemetery and then back at her. "At the moment, it feels fairly morbid."

"Oh, come on! You don't still have that weird cemetery issue, do you?"

"Yes, Veronica. And I can't believe you didn't tell me that there's one right across the street! You know, lots of people would find it disturbing to go to sleep at night with a cemetery basically in their front yard, especially a New Orleans cemetery."

Veronica shook her head in mock disgust as she grabbed a box from my back seat.

"Thank God there's a bar right next to it," I continued. "In case I need to drink myself to death from despair."

She smiled. "Well, if you do drink yourself to death, I wouldn't have to carry you very far for your burial."

I quickly made the customary scongiuri gesture that my nonna had taught me to do to ward off the threat of death, which Veronica had just so carelessly cast upon me. It looks like the University of Texas's hook 'em horns sign with the index and pinky fingers pointed up like horns, only you point the horns downward.

Veronica rolled her eyes. "Do you still do that silly scongiuri thing too? God, Franki, you make me so glad my nonna stayed in Sicily. You're so superstitious!"

"I do it just in case," I snapped. "I mean, you never know..."

Veronica walked up to my new front door, which was right next to hers, and pulled a key from the front right pocket of her AG jeans. "Glenda—our landlady—told me to let you in. She'll come downstairs to meet you in a few minutes."

With the box balanced on her left hip, Veronica unlocked my front door with her right hand. She gave the door a shove with her shoulder, and it swung open. She turned to me and bowed. "Welcome to your humble abode."

I excitedly entered the apartment with Napoleon at my heels. As I surveyed the living room, a number of adjectives came to mind, but humble was not one of them. The room could only be described as the home decor equivalent of Amsterdam's Red Light District. The walls were covered in fuzzy, blood-red wallpaper with shiny gold fleurs-de-lis, and hanging from the ceiling was a baroque red-and-black crystal chandelier. The couch was a rococo chaise lounge in velvet zebra print, and next to it was a lilac velour armchair with gold fringe that matched the drapery to perfection. On the opposite wall there was a mahogany wood fireplace with a hearth covered in white candles of various sizes and shapes. In front of the fireplace, a bearskin rug replete with a bear head covered the hardwood floors. The only thing that was missing was the red fluorescent light in the living room window announcing my availability for prospective clients.

I realized that my mouth was hanging open. "Wow. So...this Glenda...is she a prostitute?" I joked.

"Former stripper, actually," Veronica replied. "And she's really touchy about the difference, so don't use the word prostitute in front of her."

I gaped at my best friend. "You're serious?"

Veronica just blinked innocently, as if renting me an apartment from a former stripper across from a cemetery were perfectly normal. "You know, I was reading that the brothel look is really in right now. I believe it's called 'bordello chic.'" She began to pace back and forth as she tried to reconcile her unusually conflicted sense of fashion. "But now that I think about it, Lenny Kravitz redecorated his house here in New Orleans, and designers call his style 'bordello modern.'"

"Something tells me that Lenny didn't decorate this place. And I wouldn't exactly call this 'bordello modern.' It's more like 'bordello seventies.'"

"Well, at least you won't have to add any touches of color," Veronica said.

About the author:

Traci 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.



Connect with Traci:
Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Buy the book:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Smashwords

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Featured Author: Traci Andrighetti

Great Escapes Book Tours brings Traci Andrighetti here today with her brand new cozy mystery, Limoncello Yellow, published by Gemma Halliday Publishing. Traci answers some of my burning questions, and she treats us to an excerpt from the book.

About the book:

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.

Interview with Traci Andrighetti

Traci, how long have you been writing, and how did you start?

I wish I could tell you that I’ve been writing for years, but I haven’t—-not unless you count the boring academic papers and the thesis and dissertation I wrote in graduate school. The truth is that I wrote a Nancy Drew–style mystery with my cousin when I was twelve (which, thankfully, has been lost), and then I wrote Limoncello Yellow last year under the expert guidance of internationally bestselling author Kristin Harmel.

How did you come up with the title of your book?

Well, I wanted colorful titles with an Italian word in them. So I made a list of the types of Italian words Americans know, and I came up with types of pasta and alcohol. LOL! And I really wanted my first title to include the word “yellow,” because the Italian word for “yellow (giallo)” also means “mystery novels” in Italy (because the colors of the first mystery novels were yellow, so they became known as “gialli,” or “yellows”). Anyway, once I had “yellow” in mind, the drink “Limoncello” was a no-brainer.

How would you describe your book in five words?

An outrageous romp through NOLA!

Which character did you most enjoy writing?

My favorite character to write is definitely the aging ex-stripper Glenda O’Brien. The thing I like most about Glenda is that she says and does whatever she wants. Plus, she always brings a smile to my face because she was inspired by a real-life “adventure” I had one day on Bourbon Street in New Orleans when I asked to use the bathroom at Big Daddy’s strip club (something I don’t recommend for the faint at heart).

Are any of your characters inspired by real people?

Yes! Veronica Maggio was inspired by my dear friend Marissa Maggio, and David Savoie was inspired by David Turet, who was one of my students at the University of Texas where I used to teach Italian. The speech of the Sicilian grandmother was inspired by the great aunt of an old friend of mine.

Who are your favorite authors?

Actually, most of my favorite authors are Italian. I have a nerdy Italian book blog called italicissima, so spend a lot of my time reading contemporary Italian literature rather than American. Crazy, I know.

How long is your to-be-read pile?
I’m too afraid to look. I mean, I know how tall the tower of books in my bedroom is, but I’ve been afraid to count how many unread books are on my Kindle.

Where and when do you prefer to do your writing?

My favorite place to write is at The Flight Path Coffee Shop in Austin, Texas, on a Saturday morning. When I’m there with a double soy latte in hand, I feel like I can write anything.

Your last meal would be…

...an entire jar of Nutella, my one true addiction. “Nutella” is Italian for “Nirvana” (not really)!

Would you rather work in a library or bookstore?

Oh, for sure in a library! At a bookstore, you really only find the classics and whatever is current. Libraries are full of those hidden gems that have either been forgotten or that never really got discovered. For example, I recently stumbled upon the Outdoor Girls series (1913 to 1933) at the University of Texas library. They were the original Hardy Boys, only they were girls!

What’s one of your favorite quotes?

I don’t have a favorite quote, but my favorite saying is without a doubt, “When life gives you lemons, make Limoncello.”

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

Well, if I have the money and the time, I travel. But if I’m at home, I love to watch old movies from the 1950s and 1960s. And trashy reality TV, of course!

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

I would live in one of the fabulous apartments above the Piazza Navona in Rome (but only if the apartment walls have been soundproofed to reduce the noise from the crowds below). That’s my version of paradiso.

What are you working on now?

I’m writing Prosecco Pink, the second novel in the Franki Amato Mystery series. Be sure to read the book blurb on my blog!

Excerpt from Limoncello Yellow

I parked in front of my new home. Before I could get out of the car, Veronica was already walking out her front door, smiling and waving with Hercules in tow in a turquoise fuzzy sweater that matched hers perfectly. Despite her Sicilian father, Veronica looked Swedish like her ex-ballerina mother, with long blonde hair, cornflower blue eyes, and pale skin. 
      
"Franki!" Veronica yelled.

I bent over—at the waist—to hug her. I'd forgotten how tiny she was, and I wondered for at least the hundredth time how her internal organs could function in such a small frame.
She looked up at me and smiled. "How does it feel to be in New Orleans?"

I glanced over at the cemetery and then back at her. "At the moment, it feels fairly morbid."

"Oh, come on! You don't still have that weird cemetery issue, do you?"

"Yes, Veronica. And I can't believe you didn't tell me that there's one right across the street! You know, lots of people would find it disturbing to go to sleep at night with a cemetery basically in their front yard, especially a New Orleans cemetery."

Veronica shook her head in mock disgust as she grabbed a box from my back seat.

"Thank God there's a bar right next to it," I continued. "In case I need to drink myself to death from despair."

She smiled. "Well, if you do drink yourself to death, I wouldn't have to carry you very far for your burial."

I quickly made the customary scongiuri gesture that my nonna had taught me to do to ward off the threat of death, which Veronica had just so carelessly cast upon me. It looks like the University of Texas's hook 'em horns sign with the index and pinky fingers pointed up like horns, only you point the horns downward.

Veronica rolled her eyes. "Do you still do that silly scongiuri thing too? God, Franki, you make me so glad my nonna stayed in Sicily. You're so superstitious!"

"I do it just in case," I snapped. "I mean, you never know..."

Veronica walked up to my new front door, which was right next to hers, and pulled a key from the front right pocket of her AG jeans. "Glenda—our landlady—told me to let you in. She'll come downstairs to meet you in a few minutes."

With the box balanced on her left hip, Veronica unlocked my front door with her right hand. She gave the door a shove with her shoulder, and it swung open. She turned to me and bowed. "Welcome to your humble abode."

I excitedly entered the apartment with Napoleon at my heels. As I surveyed the living room, a number of adjectives came to mind, but humble was not one of them. The room could only be described as the home decor equivalent of Amsterdam's Red Light District. The walls were covered in fuzzy, blood-red wallpaper with shiny gold fleurs-de-lis, and hanging from the ceiling was a baroque red-and-black crystal chandelier. The couch was a rococo chaise lounge in velvet zebra print, and next to it was a lilac velour armchair with gold fringe that matched the drapery to perfection. On the opposite wall there was a mahogany wood fireplace with a hearth covered in white candles of various sizes and shapes. In front of the fireplace, a bearskin rug replete with a bear head covered the hardwood floors. The only thing that was missing was the red fluorescent light in the living room window announcing my availability for prospective clients.

I realized that my mouth was hanging open. "Wow. So…this Glenda…is she a prostitute?" I joked.

"Former stripper, actually," Veronica replied. "And she's really touchy about the difference, so don't use the word prostitute in front of her."

I gaped at my best friend. "You're serious?"

Veronica just blinked innocently, as if renting me an apartment from a former stripper across from a cemetery were perfectly normal. "You know, I was reading that the brothel look is really in right now. I believe it's called 'bordello chic.'" She began to pace back and forth as she tried to reconcile her unusually conflicted sense of fashion. "But now that I think about it, Lenny Kravitz redecorated his house here in New Orleans, and designers call his style 'bordello modern.'"

"Something tells me that Lenny didn't decorate this place. And I wouldn't exactly call this 'bordello modern.' It's more like 'bordello seventies.'"

"Well, at least you won't have to add any touches of color," Veronica said.

About the author:

Traci 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.



Connect with the author:
Website | Blog | Facebook | Goodreads| Twitter 

Buy the book:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords | Kobo 

Rafflecopter

 a Rafflecopter giveaway