The Barnes & Noble Review
In sunny Sicily, in a small coastal town, Inspector Salvo Montalbano is juggling an assortment of puzzling cases. His old school friend, now a pimp, has, for some mysterious reason, arranged a meeting between Salvo and a crime boss; a local supermarket is broken into and looted, yet the goods are found abandoned at a gas station the next day; a elderly man dies in a single-car accident after telling Montalbano he has information for him; the body of a stranger is found in a car trunk. There's no obvious connection, except for Montalbano's involvement...but threads from each investigation keep tangling with others. A combination of deduction, legwork, and insider knowledge leads Montalbano to put together the pieces of the strangest puzzle of all --and discover evidence of still another crime. In a secret room, concealed behind a hidden cave, lie two bodies that have been dead since before Montalbano was born -- a man and a woman, nude, embracing, watched over by a life-size terra-cotta dog. Beside them stands an empty water jug and a bowl containing a few almost worthless coins. While investigating this crime, Montalbano gains insights that tie these tragic deaths from so long ago, amid the horrors of WWII, to the violent events of today. Internationally bestselling author Andrea Camilleri not only writes a taut, engrossing mystery but brings to life the people, places, and experiences of contemporary Sicily in ways that enrich her story as well. Sue Stone