Montalbano's First Case and Other Stories

Later, as they lay in each other's arms, Mery whispered into his ear.
'I called my Uncle Giovanni . . . He's a big cheese at the Ministry of Justice. I asked him to find out where you're going to be assigned. Was I wrong to do it?'

'No,' said Montalbano, kissing her.

The next day, Mery called him around six p.m. at the office.
She said only one word.
'Vigàta.'

Inspector Montalbano has charmed readers over the course of twenty bestselling novels. Now, in Montalbano's First Case and Other Stories, Andrea Camilleri has chosen twenty-one of his favourite short stories following Sicily's best-loved detective.

They begin with a young Montalbano's very first investigation in Vigàta, in which he stumbles upon a girl lurking outside the courthouse with a pistol in her handbag. With no means of identifying her, the inspector must find another way to learn who she's trying to kill and why. Other cases include a missing woman who's run away from the love of her life and a crime so dark there's only one person the inspector can call for help.

'Among the most exquisitely crafted pieces of crime writing available today . . . simply superb' Sunday Times