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Our dear Inspector Salvo Montalbano is approached by a woman desperate for his assistance because her dear brother has been missing for 2 days, and as he accompanies her to her brother's apartment to search the place, they find him in a chair with his face shot off.

The investigation into the murder leads to many sharp twists and turns. As suspects are considered and a motive for the murder contemplated, the victim's hidden life starts to emerge. Montalbano sifts through the clues and you see him look at them from all angles before he puts it in boxes he keeps in his head, to be taken out from time to time like odd pieces in a jigsaw puzzle, and placed against other odd pieces to see if they will fit and form a more comprehensible picture.

In the midst of the investigation, a couple of influential political figures are found dead as a result of a dose of poorly cut cocaine. But is there even a link to the dead man Montalbano found?

We are not who we always present ourselves to be, and sometimes the secrets will surface and prove to be our undoing.

This book had me in its grips from the get go and also chuckling at some of the more humorous moments.