A Simple Story — Leonardo Sciascia

The first translation into English of the acclaimed mystery-writer's final detective novel serves as the perfect introduction to an important Italian writer. Published just before his death, this novel refines and condenses Sciascia's analysis of the mafia and the crucial part it plays in Sicily's political system. In a small Sicilian village, a young and inexperienced policeman receives a strange phone call from a retired diplomat. On investigating the matter, he finds the diplomat dead. What at first appears to be a simple case of suicide turns into an intricate tale of corruption that involves the Mafia, the head of police, and the entire Sicilian establishment. Sciascia's novella Candido is also included.