Based on a true story and told with the pacing, humor, and thrills of a Mediterranean mystery, Andrea Camilleri's new novel tells of a turn-of-the-century Sicilian scandal that revealed a tendency that is with us still: the refusal to accept the truth.
The lawyer and journalist Matteo Teresi discovers the existence of a secret cult whose members are powerful politicians, priests, and celebrities. In 1901, at a time of immense changes in Sicilian society, the discovery causes a national scandal. But far from being hailed as a hero, Teresi is accused of disrupting the status quo. From the salons, churches, and social clubs of Sicily to the country's highest courts, Camilleri's novel is a fast- paced, funny, passionately rendered portrait of the machinations of power, of institutionalized corruption, church cover-ups, political scare tactics, fake news, and collective paranoia.
"The novels of Andrea Camilleri breathe out the sense of place, the sense of humour, and the sense of despair that fills the air of Sicily."
—Donna Leon**