The Mandylion: Featuring Valentina Esposito, and Other Intriguing Tales by Joe Giordano

Stories and Places I remember - review HERE!

Appointment with ISIL - review HERE!

The Art of Revenge - review HERE!

Synopsis - 

After two-thousand years, the Mandylion, a priceless, lost ancient image of Jesus, has resurfaced. To authenticate and secure the piece, Anthony Provati and his sister Valentina Esposito are lured to Paris, France by Sophia, Anthony’s notorious ex-lover. Upon arrival, they’re plunged into a murderous pursuit for the icon threatened by Russian spies and Arab terrorists who also seek the art.

Readers will identify with Anthony and Valentina, both unlikely heroes, thrust into extraordinary circumstances. Anthony is a jazz pianist, an art gallery owner, and sailor. His half-sister Valentina was abandoned to an orphanage as an infant but has rewritten her destiny by becoming a brilliant computer programmer.

The collection includes five Detective Bragg mysteries. A gold shield homicide detective out of Brooklyn South, Bragg tackles a set of tangled murder cases that sometimes frustrate his sense of justice. The final two short stories in the collection, “A Second Shot” and “What Value to Profit the World” draw the reader into the speculative realm.

Review -

The Mandylion is the 4th book I have read by Joe Giodano. This one is a series of short stories.  The title story is quite a bit longer, almost half the book, so more developed than the others. It features characters we were introduced to in the author's Anthony Provati Thriller series - Anthony and Valentina. It is a tale of intrigue, underworld dealings and international travel that ends when these characters have finished their involvement, but before the full story is told. 

The rest of the book is filled with a series of shorter tales. Each include a mystery to solve. What Value to Profit the World, and in A Second Shot offer an unusual twist, ghost possession - something I had not seen from this author before. FYI - A Second Shot includes a brief glimpse of a dark sexual encounter. In Star Witness, Prophetic Justice, Spider Web, and Nothing Bad Without Good we shadow Detective Bragg as he works to solve unique murder mysteries.  

The Mandylion is a diverse set of tales that are easy to tuck here and there into a busy life. Enjoy!

Buy the Book: Amazon US ~ Amazon CA

Meet the Author -

Joe Giordano was born in Brooklyn. His father and grandparents immigrated to New York from Italy. He and his wife Jane now live in Texas. As a former 3M International Executive Vice President, Joe experienced the global cultures and locations he writes about.

Joe’s stories have appeared in more than one hundred magazines including The Saturday Evening Post, and Shenandoah, and his short story collection, Stories and Places I Remember. His novels include, Birds of Passage, An Italian Immigrant Coming of Age Story, and the Anthony Provati thriller series: Appointment with ISIL, Drone Strike, and The Art of Revenge.

Joe was among one hundred Italian American authors honored by Barnes & Noble to march in the 2017 Manhattan, Columbus Day Parade.

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