At the start of Camilleri's wry ninth Insp. Salvo Montalbano procedural (after 2007's 'The Patience of the Spider'), the irascible detective is hoping for a quiet day at his Vigàta office when a visitor, the beguiling Michela Pardo, implores him to help her track down her missing brother, Angelo. Montalbano accompanies Michela to Angelo's apartment, where they find her brother's gunshot-blasted corpse in a compromising position.