The Giovanna Ferrari Repair-it-all Mystery Series

Giovanna Ferrari, an unmarried, svelte, savvy, and sable-haired African-Sicilian American, runs Ferrari Repair with her grandfather Franco in the colorful town of Kingstown (population 3,721) in Gray County, Virginia, a county trapped between the Blue Ridge and Appalachian Mountains and forgotten by time, interstate highways, cell phone companies, and high-speed Internet providers. While other Gray County girls were learning how to cook, smoke, drink, and gossip, Giovanna learned how to tune up engines, tear down transmissions, weld, rewire lamps, replace drive belts in dryers, and rebuild carburetors. Giovanna is also an expert markswoman and has to be because of the many critters (black bear, an elusive mountain lion, raccoons, and copperheads) that populate the mountains around her creek-side cabin home. She lives with Lovie, her Labrador-boxer wonder mutt who has ADHD (Angry Dog, Hyper Dog), and her nearest neighbor is a two-plus-ton buffalo named Big John who Giovanna speaks to in Italian to keep him calm.

RUST IN PEACE: After repairing and restoring a Farmall tractor that has been blissfully rusting at the Simmons Farm for over fifty years, Giovanna finds Frederick "Tiny" Simmons' 6-8, 400-pound body in an easy chair in his farmhouse living room. When she learns that the coroner believes Tiny died of drowning, Giovanna spends the next two weeks clearing her name and sorting out a host of likely and unlikely suspects. She ultimately learns that the truly guilty are often innocent ... and the truly innocent are often very guilty.

DEEP FREEZE: When police find a chained up, 1950s Philco refrigerator at the bottom of what used to be Blue Lake, they call Giovanna and Franco to remove the high-strength chain. Inside the freezer is the frozen body of someone near and dear to Giovanna, who sets out to free C-movie actress Heaven Lee, a frequent flier to rehab and the prime suspect, solve a 70-year-old missing persons mystery, and uncover a decades' old conspiracy involving a massive crop of mountain-grown marijuana.

TUNING UP DAISIES: Lovie wakes Giovanna one night and leads her to the body of Harvin Morse, newly released thief and meth head, lying face down in Big John's field, a half full bottle of Old Heaven Hill whiskey in his hand. Did Big John stomp Harvin to death? Or did someone leave Harvin's body to frame Giovanna for the crime? Set during the buildup and aftermath of the Gray County Fair's annual demolition derby, Giovanna will solve a thirty-five-year-old missing child case and later arrive in jail and at the truth (in that order) as the body count rises, and accusations and a diabolical killer threaten to wreck her life forever.


Genre: Mystery