A VOICE IN THE NIGHT

By Andrea Camilleri

The sincerely distressed manager of a local supermarket, Guido Borsellino, has called Police Inspector Montalbano to tell him that his supermarket has been robbed. Guido seems to be a lot more upset at the police than about the money that was stolen overnight, and when the inspector arrives at the market to help his officers, he finds the manager is so terrified of the police that he actually believes the law “wants to see him sentenced to death.” Also in question for the inspector is the fact that he can find no sign of forced entry, which seems suspicious when talking about an overnight robbery. Could the manager possibly be in on the crime?

With the initial questioning complete, the inspector returns to the police station. There he must deal with another issue. Giovanni Strangio was arrested by the inspector because a girl was found killed in Strangio’s apartment, but Strangio seems to have a perfect alibi in place for the time of death. The inspector finds, however, that Strangio is also the son of the province president and he knows that the interests of local politicians and the Mafia are very much involved.

Sadly, when the inspector looks in on Guido, the man is found hanging in his office, extremely dead, and Strangio is back in his presence to report the killing of his girlfriend, Mariangela. As both deaths raise more and more red flags, the inspector has to start working late at night to catch killers when they least expect it. Killers that certainly have the talent to silence the inspector before he can put them behind bars.

Although the book is a translation and, at times, a bit difficult to understand, the many clues and the surprising disclosures make this a great mystery, well worth reading.