This is a genre that one can only judge honestly having read multiple entries. It's an engaging detective story, with a form to follow and a riddle to solve, but there's a lot to develop - an investigator to get to know, a sense of the setting as a character second only to the protagonist in importance, an attitude towards the ambiguities of life - and the author mustn't hurry. The lightness of the prose and the pleasure of the read, as well as the very digestible length, are also important. What I'm saying is, I'm looking forward to reading more about inspector Montelbano, and so far at least the inspector and his Italian island hold their own with my favorites, Easy Rawlins in Watts and Mma Ramotswe in Botswana.