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In the fourth of Camilleri's Inspector Montalbano series, the pace quickens as the inspector shoulders his way through a rickety array of hastily erected barriers to solve a seemingly simple case of murder. He is faced with as many barriers within competing police units as among the villains, and has to vault or clatter through each one of them. He himself first found the body - a naked blonde - and he's one of the few Sicilians who doesn't think she was murdered by the youth who was besotted with her. Meanwhile, his personal life has grown more complicated in each novel, with the love of his life spending most of her time offstage, and with the pair of them now prospective parents to an adopted child. (For details, read The Snack Thief.) The Sicilian surroundings and colourful police team add spice and flavour, and if at times the inspector's intuition can be quite extraordinary, this little romp is probably the best of an entertaining series.