How “The Silician Inheritance” Could Solve A Century-Old Murder

“The Silician Inheritance” may be lauded as “the book on everyone’s summer must-read list” but it could possibly pave a way to the unearthing of the mysterious death of a family matriarch.

It’s already gone further than a simple novel that’s supposed to inspire readers with the thrill of Sicily, there’s a true crime podcast aiming to answer the questions about why a Silician woman was mysteriously murdered and who did so.

Jo Piazza – On The Drive To Uncover The Real Truth About Her Ancestor’s Murder

Jo Piazza is serious about uncovering the details surrounding the mysterious death of her ancestor. The spark was first ignited when she explored said death in her book, “The Silician Inheritance.”

It may have started off as a fictional work, but it may yet solve a real-world mystery.

Writing for PEOPLE, Piazza wrote: “When I first started writing a novel loosely based on the murder of our family matriarch in Sicily, I didn’t want to know the real story.

I wanted to let my imagination run wild. I wanted to craft the characters and the mystery in my head using only this nugget of information about a murder of a woman left behind while her husband made his fortune in America.”

It wasn’t until the book was in the hands of the editors that she gave the actual murder a real thought. However, once she did she became heavily interested in getting to the root of the matter.

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“My family has been passing down the tale of Lorenza’s murder for more than a hundred years. It changes depending on who is doing the telling, with numerous theories and tangents and mythologies involved. We are Italian Americans and we love embellishing and entertaining an audience with our lore.”

She continued: “But what has always remained the same is the fact that our family matriarch was murdered before she could join her husband Antonino and five of her children here in America in 1916.”

Before she could launch her investigation, she had to sift through the different stories to find out which one was more likely to happen and which trail she could follow. The stories ranged from witchcraft to entanglement with the mafia.

When she attempted to follow up on the mafia trail, she was severely warned by a reporter and expert in the Italian mafia that investigating the group comes with risks, even if it is for a crime that happened many years ago.

Apart from receiving warnings to clear off by professional sources, some members of her family have warned her to let the past rest.

“Many of my relatives have gone to the village of Caltabelotta, where our family is from, to try to find information and some have encountered weird things along the way,” she wrote.

Be sure to catch up on everything happening with Jo Piazza right now. Come back here often for all Jo Piazza spoilers, news, and updates.