The twenty-eighth and final novel in the thrilling, wickedly funny Inspector Montalbano Mysteries series by bestselling author Andrea Camilleri. 'Contrary to what you think, I'm carrying out this investigation as best I can. But let's do this: if I get stuck, if I find I can't go forward or back, then I'll let you know, and you can step in. And offer me a way out. You've gained a bit of detective work through me, haven't you? What do you say?' 'I'm game,' said the Author . . . 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 . . .

The Cook of the Halcyon is the twenty-seventh Inspector Montalbano mystery 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 straightaway. 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.

The Other End of the Line is the twenty-fourth Inspector Montalbano mystery from the international bestselling author Andrea Camilleri, and this time migrants and murder are on the Inspector's mind. In Inspector Montalbano's coastal town of Vigata, a surge of migrants have been coming in by boat, and all the town's hands are on deck to help the arrivals. At the heart of the scene are the police - on the lookout for the people smugglers responsible - and long night-shifts are rendering Inspector Montalbano and his officers exhausted. Then one night, while Montalbano is enduring yet another gruelling stint at the port, a separate crime is committed - unexplained, unexpected, and unpleasant. Elena, the dressmaker at the town's famous tailors, has been found dead - slaughtered by her own scissors . . . As a swell of desperate people arrive in search of a better life, Inspector Montalbano finds himself trying to unravel the mystery of who murdered the dressmaker. But as he makes his enquiries, the Inspector can't help but wonder: what will happen if he keeps tugging on this thread? And what will he find at the end of the line? The Other End of the Line is followed by the twenty-fifth gripping mystery, The Safety Net.

Montalbano's First Case and Other Stories is a brilliant collection of short stories, personally chosen by Andrea Camilleri. It follows Inspector Montalbano from his very first case in Vigata, in which he stumbles upon a young girl lurking outside a courthouse with a pistol in her handbag. When she is taken in for questioning and won't utter a single word, Montalbano must find another way to learn who she is trying to kill, and why . . . Other cases include a missing woman who has run away from the love of her life; an old married couple who appear to be rehearsing their suicides; and a crime so dark there's only one person the inspector can call for help. With twists and turns aplenty, these short stories have all the wit, mystery and culinary gusto that Camilleri's fans have come to love him for.

The Shape of Water is the first in Andrea Camilleri's wry, brilliantly compelling Sicilian crime series, featuring Inspector Montalbano. When the body of respected and prominent engineer Silvio Luparello is discovered in the Pasture, a rubbish-strewn site brimming with drug dealers and prostitutes, the coroner's verdict is death from natural causes - refreshingly unusual for Sicily. But Inspector Salvo Montalbano of the Vigata police force, as honest as he is streetwise and as scathing to fools and villains as he is compassionate to their victims, is not ready to close the case, despite pressure from Vigata's police chief, judge, and bishop. Picking his way through a labyrinth of high-comedy corruption, carefully planted false clues, trigger-happy Mafia members, and delicious Sicilian fare, Montalbano can be relied on, whatever the cost, to get to the heart of the matter. The Shape of Water is followed by the second in this phenomenal series, The Terracotta Dog.

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.

The Track of Sand is Andrea Camilleri's twelfth outing in the wryly humorous Inspector Montalbano series. Inspector Montalbano rises one morning to find the carcass of a horse on the beach in front of his seaside home. But no sooner do his men arrive, than the body has mysteriously vanished, leaving only a track in the sand. Before long Rachele, a beguiling equestrian champion, turns up at police headquarters to report her horse missing. The horse had been stabled at the grounds of a certain Saverio Lo Duca, one of the richest men in Sicily. Lo Duca has lost one of his own horses too. Montalbano, his curiosity piqued, investigates, but before long things take a more disturbing turn . . . But who has Montalbano upset within this strange, unfamiliar world of horse-racing? And what has the Mafia to do with it all? The Track of Sand is followed by the thirteenth novel in the series, The Potter's Field.

Angelica's Smile is the seventeenth novel in the gripping and darkly funny Inspector Montalbano mysteries by Andrea Camilleri. When members of Vigata's elite are targeted in a series of perfectly executed burglaries, Inspector Montalbano reluctantly takes the case. It soon becomes clear however that more links these privileged few than simply their lost possessions . . . It isn't long too before Montalbano finds himself taken with one of the victims, the captivatingly beautiful young Angelica. But as the detective's attraction grows - until he can think of little else - a series of strange, anonymous letters claiming responsibility for the thefts begin to arrive . . . With the allure of Angelica beginning to consume him and his relationship with Livia under threat, Montalbano must focus his mind to solve this perplexing investigation before events spiral out of all control. Angelica's Smile is followed by the eighteenth book in the Sicilian mystery series, Game of Mirrors.

A Voice in the Night is the twentieth compelling crime novel in the phenomenally successful Inspector Montalbano series by Andrea Camilleri. Feeling his age, as his birthday rolls round once again, Inspector Montalbano decides to cheer himself up by dealing with a young driver's road rage in his own unique way. But his joy is short-lived, as at police headquarters he receives an angry phone call from a supermarket boss: there's been a robbery at his store and Montalbano's colleague is treating him as a suspect. On arrival at the scene, Montalbano quickly agrees with Inspector Augello that this was no ordinary break-in, but with the supermarket's infamous links to the Sicilian Mafia creating problems at every turn, this isn't going to be an easy case for the inspector to solve. And to add to the inspector's burden, the young driver he made an enemy of earlier on has returned to police headquarters to report a shocking crime . . . A Voice in the Night is followed by the twenty-first gripping mystery, A Nest of Vipers.

Never has Inspector Montalbano's character - a unique blend of humor, cynicism, compassion, earthiness, and love of good food - been more compelling than in The Snack Thief. When an elderly man is stabbed to death in an elevator and a crewman on an Italian fishing trawler is machine-gunned by a Tunisian patrol boat off Sicily's coast, only Inspector Montalbano suspects the link between the two incidents. His investigation leads to the beautiful Karima, an impoverished house cleaner and sometime prostitute, whose young son steals other school children's mid-morning snacks. But Karima disappears, and the young snack thief's life - as well as Montalbano's - is endangered when the inspector exposes a viper's nest of government corruption and international intrigue.

A Nest of Vipers is the twenty-first novel in Andrea Camilleri's irresistible Inspector Montalbano series. On what should be a quiet Sunday morning, Inspector Montalbano is called to a murder scene on the Sicilian coast. A man has discovered his father dead in his Vigatan beach house, his body slumped on the dining room floor, his morning coffee spilled across the table, and a single gunshot wound at the base of his skull. First appearances point to the son having the most to gain from his father's untimely death, a notion his sister can't help but reinforce. But when Montalbano delves deeper into the case, and learns of the dishonourable life the victim led, it soon becomes clear half of Vigata has a motive for his murder and this won't be as simple as the inspector had once hoped . . . A Nest of Vipers is followed by the twenty-second gripping mystery, The Pyramid of Mud.

Set in Sicily, Game of Mirrors is the eighteenth exciting instalment in the humorous Inspector Montalbano mysteries by Andrea Camilleri. When Montalbano comes to the aid of his new neighbour, Liliana Lombardo, after the engine of her car is interfered with, the inspector can little imagine where this innocuous event will lead. It soon transpires that the young woman - beautiful, intelligent and rather vague about the whereabouts of her husband - is being targeted by someone with a grudge against her. But is Liliana's growing interest in Montalbano simply a product of the detective's innate charm? Or is she trying to lead him astray - and into trouble? Meanwhile the inspector finds himself drawn into another mystery when a bomb explodes outside an empty warehouse in the Sicilian city of Vigata. But who was the bomb intended for? And why was it left in such a peculiar place? As Montalbano and his colleagues investigate the street's residents - some of whom have suspicious mafia links - they begin to receive a barrage of false clues from an anonymous source. As Liliana's behaviour becomes increasingly erratic and leaks around the case threaten Montalbano's reputation; the sense of danger grows. The inspector soon realizes that, with this investigation, he is being led into a hall of mirrors, where there is danger at every turn and nothing is quite clear . . . Game of Mirrors is followed by the nineteenth Inspector Montalbano novel, Blade of Light.

Blade of Light is the nineteenth gripping addition to the phenomenally successful Inspector Montalbano Sicilian mysteries by Andrea Camilleri. When a gentleman arrives at Montalbano's police station to report an armed robbery on his wife that ended with a kiss, the inspector's suspicions are aroused. As he delves deeper into the case, Montalbano finds that none of the witnesses' stories are adding up, and he can't help but feel that they're not meant to. When a body turns up showing all the signs of a mafia hit, the inspector knows he must excavate the truth from what he is being led to believe. Meanwhile there's a case that keeps winding its way back to Montalbano's office. A locked door has suddenly appeared on a farmer's disused shed, and then, just as quickly, the door disappears. The anti-terrorist police soon intervene, but why are they so keen to keep this away from the inspector? And why does he sense that this case is connected to him somehow? With deceit at every turn and a distraction of the heart taking over his head, Inspector Montalbano must focus if he is ever going to solve this mystery. Blade of Light is followed by the twentieth book in the Sicilian mystery series, A Voice in the Night.

The Wings of the Sphinx is the eleventh book in the wickedly funny Inspector Montalbano series by Italian author, Andrea Camilleri. Things are not going well for Inspector Montalbano. His long-distance relationship with Livia is on the rocks, he feels himself getting even older and he's growing tired of the violence in his job. Then the dead body of a young woman is found in an illegal dump, with half her face missing. Her identity at first unknown; a tattoo of a sphinx moth on her left shoulder links her with three other girls bearing the same mark, all recent Russian immigrants to Italy. Victims of an underworld sex trade, these girls have been rescued from the Mafia night-club circuit by a Catholic charity organization. The problem is, the other girls can't help Montalbano with his enquiries. They are all missing. As his investigations progresses, it seems that not everyone wants Montalbano to discover what really lies behind the organization's charitable facade. And not only does Montalbano have a case to solve, he has a demanding stomach to feed, and he must save his foundering relationship with Livia . . . The Wings of the Sphinx is followed by the twelfth gripping mystery, The Track of Sand.

The Pyramid of Mud is the twenty-second Inspector Montalbano mystery from Italy's finest crime writer, Andrea Camilleri. It's been raining for days in Vigata, and the persistent downpours have led to violent floods overtaking the Inspector's beloved hometown, sweeping across the land and leaving only a sea of mud behind. It is on one of these endless grey days that a man - a Mr Giuglu Nicotra - is found dead. His body discovered in a large sewage tunnel, half naked and with a bullet in his back. The investigation is slow and slippery to start with, but when Montalbano realizes that every clue he uncovers and every person he interviews is leading to the same place: the world of public spending - and with it, the Mafia - the case begins to pick up pace. But there's one question that keeps playing on Montalbano's mind: in his strange and untimely death, was Giuglu Nicotra trying to tell him something? The Pyramid of Mud is followed by the twenty-third gripping mystery, The Overnight Kidnapper.

The new novel in the transporting New York Times bestselling Inspector Montalbano mystery series Giovanni Trincanato has brought ruin to the shipyard he inherited from his father and when a worker he fires hangs himself on the construction site, Inspector Montalbano is called to the scene. In short order, the inspector loses his temper with the crass Giovanni, delivers a slap to his face, and unfortunately, it won't be the last he sees of Trincanato. Meanwhile, a mysterious schooner called Halcyon shows up in the harbor, seemingly deserted except for just one man. With its presence comes even more mysteries, another death, and the arrival of the FBI. Alongside Sicilian-American Agent Pennisi, Montalbano and his team must attempt a suspenseful infiltration operation in this new, page-turning Inspector Montalbano mystery.

August Heat by Andrea Camilleri, is the tenth instalment in the Inspector Montalbano series, adapted as a major BBC4 television series. Montalbano quickly slammed the trunk shut and sat down on top of it. When the beam from Livia's torch shone on his face, he automatically smiled. 'What's in the trunk?' Livia asked. 'Nothing. It's empty.' How could he possibly have told her there was a corpse inside? The lazy, slow month of August at the height of the Sicilian summer is, Inspector Montalbano assures his girlfriend Livia as they prepare for a relaxing holiday in a villa he has found for them, far too hot for any murders to be committed. But when Livia's friends' young son goes missing, a chain of events is sparked which will certainly ruin the Chief Inspector's pleasant interlude. A secret apartment and a grisly find in an old trunk are just the beginning, as Montalbano navigates his way though the case, as well as coping with the sweltering heat, the suspicious death of an Arab labourer and the tempting lure of a beautiful girl . . . August Heat is followed by the eleventh book in the series, The Wings of the Sphinx. 'A magnificent series of novels' Sunday Times 'Wonderful Italian detective stories' Guardian

The Dance of the Seagull is the fifteenth darkly humorous adventure starring Inspector Montalbano from bestselling author Andrea Camilleri.

Inspector Montalbano is awake at dawn, sitting on his porch, when his attention is caught by a seagull which falls from the sky, performing a strange dance, before lying down to die. Montalbano is perplexed by what he has witnessed and the scene hangs over him like an omen.

About to depart for a holiday with his girlfriend Livia, Montalbano makes a quick trip to the police station to tie up loose ends. But when his dear colleague Fazio is discovered missing – and it transpires that the policeman has been involved in his own secret investigations – Montalbano instead launches a desperate search for his lost friend, as time begins to run out . . .

Navigating a shadowy maze of smuggling, blackmail and the darkest murder, and moving from the docks of Vigàta to its deep, dry wells where the mafia hide their terrible crimes, Inspector Montalbano must have his wits about him to unravel this tangled mystery.

The Overnight Kidnapper is the twenty-third Inspector Montalbano mystery, from the international bestselling author Andrea Camilleri. After a hectic morning involving two rather irritating cases of mistaken identity, Inspector Montalbano finally arrives in his office ready find out what's troubling Vigata this week. What he discovers is unnerving. A woman on her way home from work has been held up at gunpoint, chloroformed and kidnapped, but then released just hours later - unharmed and with all her possessions - into the open countryside. Later that day, Montalbano hears from Enzo, the owner of his favourite restaurant, that his niece has recently been the victim of the exact same crime. Before long, a third instance of this baffling overnight kidnapping has been reported. As far as Montalbano can tell, there is no link between the attacker and the victims. So what exactly is this mystery assailant gaining from these fleeting kidnappings? And what can he do to stop them? Montalbano must use all his logic and intuition if he is to answer these pressing questions before the kidnapper finds his next victim . . . The Overnight Kidnapper is followed by the twenty-fourth gripping mystery, The Other End of the Line.

The Treasure Hunt is the sixteenth gripping novel in Andrea Camilleri's darkly humorous Inspector Montalbano series.

When a crazed elderly man and his sister begin firing bullets from their balcony down onto the Vigàta street below, Inspector Montalbano finds himself a reluctant television hero.

A few days later, when a letter arrives containing a mysterious riddle, the Inspector becomes drawn into a perplexing treasure hunt set by an anonymous challenger. As the hunt intensifies, Montalbano is relieved to be offered the assistance of Arturo Pennisi, a young man eager to witness the detective's investigative skills first hand.

Fending off meddling commissioners and his irate girlfriend, Livia, the inspector will follow the treasure hunt's clues and travel from Vigàta's teeming streets to its deserted outskirts: where an abandoned house overlooks a seemingly bottomless lake. But when a horrifying crime is committed, the game must surely be laid aside. And it isn't long before Montalbano himself will be in terrible danger . . .

After a cloak and dagger exchange with an ageing Mafioso, Inspector Montalbano is left haunted by the man's dying words, which lead him to a mountainside just west of Vigata where he unearths two young lovers, dead fifty years and still embracing, watched over by a life-size terracotta dog. Heedless of personal danger, Montalbano's drive to solve this old crime forces him on a journey through Sicily's World War II history and to the dark heart of one family... The Terracotta Dog is followed by the third title in this satirical and humorous series, The Snack Thief.

Andrea Camilleri's sensational and darkly humorous Inspector Montalbano series continues in the fourteenth instalment, The Age of Doubt.

A chance encounter with a strange young woman leads Inspector Montalbano to Vigàta harbour – and into a puzzling new mystery. The crew of a mysterious yacht – the Vanna – due to dock in the area has discovered a corpse floating in the water, the dead man's face badly disfigured. It isn't long before Montalbano becomes suspicious of the Vanna's inhabitants. Who is the yacht's owner, the glamorous and short-tempered Livia Giovannini? How has she accrued her riches? And why does she spend so much time at sea?

Meanwhile Montalbano finds himself getting into tangles with the dreaded Commissioner, the exasperating Dr Lattes and a very beautiful young woman at the harbour, with whom he becomes dangerously besotted . . . Can the Inspector clear his head long enough to unravel this murky mystery?

The Age of Doubt is followed by The Dance of the Seagull, the fifteenth book in the series.

Andrea Camilleri's novels starring Inspector Montalbano have become an international sensation and have been translated from Italian into eight languages, ranging from Dutch to Japanese. The Shape of Water is the first book in this sly, witty, and engaging series with its sardonic take on Sicilian life.

Early one morning, Silvio Lupanello, a big shot in the village of Vigata, is found dead in his car with his pants around his knees. The car happens to be parked in a rough part of town frequented by prostitutes and drug dealers, and as the news of his death spreads, the rumors begin. Enter Inspector Salvo Montalbano, Vigata's most respected detective. With his characteristic mix of humor, cynicism, compassion, and love of good food, Montalbano goes into battle against the powerful and the corrupt who are determined to block his path to the real killer. This funny and fast-paced Sicilian page-turner will be a delicious discovery for mystery afficionados and fiction lovers alike.

The Overnight Kidnapper is the twenty-third Inspector Montalbano mystery, from the international bestselling author Andrea Camilleri. After a hectic morning involving two rather irritating cases of mistaken identity, Inspector Montalbano finally arrives in his office ready to find out what's troubling Vigata this week. What he discovers is unnerving. A woman on her way home from work has been held up at gunpoint, chloroformed and kidnapped, but then released just hours later - unharmed and with all her possessions - into the open countryside. Later that day, Montalbano hears from Enzo, the owner of his favourite restaurant, that his niece has recently been the victim of the exact same crime. Before long, a third instance of this baffling overnight kidnapping has been reported. As far as Montalbano can tell, there is no link between the attacker and the victims. So what exactly is this mystery assailant gaining from these fleeting kidnappings? And what can he do to stop them? Montalbano must use all his logic and intuition if he is to answer these pressing questions before the kidnapper finds his next victim . . . The Overnight Kidnapper is followed by the twenty-fourth gripping Montalbano mystery, The Other End of the Line.

In The Sicilian Method, Andrea Camilleri's twenty-sixth novel in the Inspector Montalbano mystery series, Montalbano finds his answers to a murder in a theatrical play.

Mimi Augello is visiting his lover when the woman's husband unexpectedly returns to the apartment. Hurriedly, he climbs out the window and into the downstairs apartment, but from one danger to another. In the dark he sees a body lying on the bed. Shortly afterwards another body is found and the victim is Carmelo Catalanotti, a director of bourgeois dramas with a harsh reputation for the acting method he developed for his actors: digging into their complexes to unleash their talent, a traumatic experience for all. Are the two deaths connected? Catalanotti scrupulously kept notes and comments on all the actors he worked with as well as strange notebooks full of figures, dates and names…

Inspector Montalbano finds all of Catalanotti's dossiers and plays, the notes on the characters and the notes on his final drama, Dangerous Turn. It is in the theatre where he feels the solution lies.