Montolbone learned how herd it was to put on a wetsuit while in a dingby speeding over e sea that wasn't exactly calm. Mimi, at the heim, looked tense and worried.

"Getting seasick? the inspector asked him at one point.

Wo. Just sick of myself.'

"Why?"

"Because every now and then I realize what a stupid shit I am to go along with some of your brilliant ideas.

As an angry ectegenarian holds a terrified and lovelorn secretary at gunpoint, Inspector Montalbano is reluctantly drawn into the case. The secretary's boss, a financial adviser, has vanished along with several billion lire entrusted to him by the good citizens of Vigata. Also missing is the adviser's young colleague, whose uncle just happens to be building a house on the site of Inspector Montalbano's very favourite olive tree...

Ably abetted by his loyal and eccentric team, Montalbano, the food-loving, commitment-phobic inspector, returns for another delicious investigation served up in vintage Camilleri style.

*The Sicilian adventures of Inspector Montalbano are always a joy... Camilleri, who is a supreme master of his craft, is always deadly serious about issues that matter. If you're not familiar with his work, do try him - you're in for a treat' Guardian