The latest mystery in Andrea Camilleri's internationally bestselling Inspector Montalbano series

With their dark sophistication and dry humor, Andrea Camilleri's classic crime novels continue to win more and more fans in America. The latest installment of the popular mystery series finds the moody Inspector Montalbano further beset by the existential questions that have been plaguing him of late. But he doesn't have much time to wax philosophical before the gruesome murder of a manshot at point-blank range in the face with his pants downcommands his attention. Add two evasive, beautiful women as prime suspects, some dirty cocaine, mysterious computer codes, and a series of threatening letters, and things soon get very complicated at the police headquarters in Vigta.

"At the start of Camilleri's wry ninth Insp. Salvo Montalbano procedural (after 2007's The Patience of the Spider), the irascible detective is hoping for a quiet day at his Vigta office when a visitor, the beguiling Michela Pardo, implores him to help her track down her missing brother, Angelo. Montalbano accompanies Michela to Angelo's apartment, where they find her brother's gunshot-blasted corpse in a compromising position. Montalbano later discovers a possible link between the murder and a series of drug overdoses whose victims include a popular senator. Angelo's affair with a professor's attractive wife offers another avenue of inquiry, but one that gets complicated when the inspector begins to fall in love with the suspect. Humor, much of it provided by Montalbano's eccentric colleagues, leavens the noirish story line, and the solution to the central puzzle is both psychologically plausible and intellectually satisfying. The crisp prose is a pleasure to read, and a last-minute twist a testament to the author's artistry." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"Camilleri is as crafty and charming a writer as his protagonist is an investigator."

The Washington Post

"Montalbano is a delightful creation."

USA Today

The latest installment of the popular mystery series finds the moody Inspector Montalbano with no time to wax philosophical before the gruesome murder of a man shot at pointblank range in the face with his pants down commands his attention.

Andrea Camilleri, a number-one bestselling author in Italy and Germany, is the author of the Inspector Montalbano mystery series and several historical novels set in nineteenth-century Sicily. His books have been translated into seven languages.

Stephen Sartarelli is a poet and translator.