The Condor's Riddle
2024
An entire society of expatriates and eccentrics is brought to life in Antinori’s newest tale of international intrigue, The Condor’s Riddle, which populates the mythical port of Santa Clara by the Sea with a rogue’s gallery of heroes and antiheroes. Caught between the inexorable pincers of the Chinese and American embassies, along with the heavily armed drug cartels who demand answers about the dead man, the endearing cast of characters struggles to stay alive and safe in their marginal but customary way.
One of the indispensable band of friends is Bebéi, a naïve and simpleminded French archivist with a photographic memory. His guileless, camera-like observations become indispensable to solving an ever-deepening mystery and calming the streets. His investigative work is assisted by a Caribbean ex-president who lives among cats; a Chinese exotic dancer with a doll face; a Rastafarian workaholic; a Greek sea captain; even a remorseful German terrorist, who shares a vagabond life on the church stairs with a runaway Wall Street investor and a stoned Canadian hippie. Threading in and out of the narrative is a blind indigenous child who “sees” and senses much more than the sighted adults around her.
Belle Signore
2023
A novel born and raised on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, will be launched on August 22nd by Koehlerbooks. Eileen is a Midwestern woman who meets Vicenza, a lively and daring Italian. They became friends. Vicenza is the discreet caretaker of a waterfront mansion, but there is more, and each chapter unveils a new secret. Vicenza and her husband are part of the FBI witness protection program, and the charming estate is actually used for Sicilian Mafia meetings. Eileen and Vicenza come from entirely different backgrounds but are both ready to change and adjust. The death of Vicenza's husband gives them the opportunity they need. Only one problem, Vicenza knows too much and cannot simply walk free. The Sicilian bosses want her as an honorable widow dressed in black in a Sicilian village surrounded by goats and olive trees. To challenge them, they engage the support of the Belle Signore – wives and daughters of Mafia men.
The Bride of Paraty
2018
"With every year that goes by, I feel more relaxed doing what I do. Choosing who deserves to die is still what takes the most time. The actual execution, however, seems to get easier with each one. The danger is getting careless. The bus driver’s death last year was perfect; nobody saw it or suspected that I was on the bus. I could feel him dying when his blood came gushing out on my hand. I need to control myself. The pleasure of destroying a useless life can cause me to stop being rational, and that could be my downfall."
Always in August, when the cold rain numbs desires, someone dies without explanation. The dread spreads and drives away tourists. Everyone wants to help find the murderer: Jurandir, a retired deputy police chief; Mr. Agripino, the respectable lawyer; the bum and old atheist; the Frenchwomen couple who own the restaurant; and even the Czech photographer, but the secret is well-guarded. Only one person can decipher the clues that can lead to the killer.
Fiona Dares to Disturb
2021
"It started with a dream. Fiona always had the strange impression that some of her nightmares carried a bad omen. The building was bizarrely modern, and after running through empty corridors, she reached some sort of intensive care room. The twins, her best friends, were there, unconscious, as if they were in a deep coma, tied to tubes and surrounded by beeping and flashing machines. Was this some kind of premonition?"
Fiona left everything behind to follow her passion. No maps, no limits, and no fear. Now, in the calmness of an elderly community, she can't be silent before injustice. She dares to disturb the rules and lead her friends in a revolution to challenge greedy investors and sinister doctors.