Description

The Cook of the Halcyon is the penultimate novel in the Inspector Montalbano mystery series from the master of Sicilian crime, Andrea Camilleri.

Moments later the all-white schooner, which looked like a hospital ship, began to pass ever so slowly before him, as if wanting to show itself off in all its beauty. The name on the prow said: Halcyon.

Two deaths – the suicide of a recently fired worker and the murder of an unscrupulous businessman – lead Inspector Montalbano to the Halcyon, a mysterious ship that visits Vigata’s port each day. With very few crewmen, no passengers, and a stern large enough to land a helicopter, it piques the Inspector’s interest straight away.

In the midst of this, a rare trip to Genoa to visit Livia ends with the Vigata police department in disarray, and Inspector Montalbano’s position as the head of the commissariat in jeopardy. It will be up to Montalbano to fix the damage done.

Publisher Review

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 * Among the most exquisitely crafted pieces of crime writing available today . . . Simply superb * Sunday Times * One of fiction's greatest detectives and Camilleri is one of Europe's greatest crime writers * Daily Mail *