Description

The Sunday Times bestselling, twenty-eighth and final novel in the thrilling, wickedly funny Inspector Montalbano Mysteries series by Andrea Camilleri.

‘One of fiction’s greatest detectives’ – Daily Mail

When Inspector Montalbano receives an early-morning phone call it proves to be the start of a very trying day. For the caller expects Montalbano to arrive imminently at a rendezvous with some friends. But before he can reply the caller announces himself as someone called Riccardino and hangs up.

Later that day news comes in of a brutal slaying in broad daylight by an unknown assassin who makes his getaway on a motorbike. And when the Inspector learns of the victim’s identity – a man called Riccardino – his troubles are only just beginning. For soon he must contend with the involvement of a local bishop and a fortune teller who reports some strange goings-on in her neighbourhood.

All roads soon lead to a local salt mine but the case proves stubbornly intractable until Montalbano receives another unexpected call . . .

‘Camilleri has contrived a fitting goodbye to a dear old friend who operates, to the very last, on his own terms’ – The Guardian

Publisher Review

Reading it feels like taking a restful and invigorating holiday, in the company of an infallibly amusing author who is also sufficiently wise . . . Reflecting now on the pleasure Camilleri's body of work has given me, I'm moved to break a reviewing convention and offer to his shade a sentiment that even the most delighted critics never express: thank you * The Daily Telegraph * The concluding instalment in the late Italian writer's beloved Inspector Montalbano series is a chance to savour the sardonic Sicilian's company, the vivid landscape of his region and Camilleri's distinctive voice as he unravels his final mystery * The i * Among the most exquisitely crafted pieces of crime writing available today . . . Simply superb * Sunday Times * Montalbano's colleagues, chance encounters, Sicilian mores, even the contents of his fridge are described with the wit and gusto that make this narrator the best company in crime fiction today * Guardian * One of fiction's greatest detectives and Camilleri is one of Europe's greatest crime writers * Daily Mail * Camilleri has contrived a fitting goodbye to a dear old friend who operates, to the very last, on his own terms * Guardian * With Riccardino, Montalbano signs off in glorious style * Crime Fiction Lover *