This was a great first book in Andrea Camilleri's Inspector Salvo Montalbano series. It was quick and fast paced, a good introduction to a new main character who i like, the plot was believable, and the ending nicely wrapped up. Another Italian mystery series for me, this time taking place in Vigáta, a fictional town in Sicily...not that i needed another mystery series to start, never mind another one that is set in Italy. However, i'm hooked from book one and looking forward to the next one.

Jacket Notes: "The goats of Vigata once grazed on the trash-strewn, sirocco-swept site still known as the Pasture. Now local enterprise of a different sort flourishes: drug dealers and prostitutes of every flavor. But their discreet trade is upset when two employees of the Splendor Refuse Collection Company discover the body of engineer Silvio Luparello, one of the local movers and shakers--apparently deceased in flagrante at the Pasture. The coroner’s verdict is death from natural causes--refreshingly unusual for Sicily. But Inspector Salvo Montalbano, as honest as he is streetwise and as scathing to fools and villains as he is compassionate to their victims, is not ready to close the case--even though he’s being pressured by Vigata’s police chief, judge, and bishop."