He began swimming in slow, broad strokes . . . In a fraction of a second, Montalbano realized he'd struck a human foot. Somebody else was floating right beside him, and he hadn't noticed. 'Excuse me, ' he said hastily. The person beside him didn't answer, because he wasn't doing the dead man's float. He was actually dead . . .Inspector Salvo Montalbano is considering retirement. Everything - the government, the world - seems to be going to the dogs. He is starting to feel his age, and even his favourite restaurant has closed.But when he bumps into a dead body during a bracing swim, his detective instincts are aroused once more. Particularly when the most likely identity of the victim is a man already long buried . . .'Among the most exquisitely crafted pieces of crime writing available today . . . simply superb' Sunday Times'The best company in crime fiction today' Guardian'One of fiction's greatest detectives . . . utterly gripping' Daily Mirror