The Fourth Secret

The Fourth Secret - Andrea Camilleri I received an ARC ebook copy of this novella from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is the second book that I have read of this series and I loved it. I felt like I had taken a short trip to a quaint little Italian town and got a sense of the life and people there.

The mystery surrounds a series of deaths at construction sites that may be the result of a sinister mafia extortion plot. The mystery was very interesting and well done, but the charm of this novella lies in the characters and the overall light, humorous tone of the work. Much like Agatha Christie novels often re-create a different time and world than we have today, this series, at least for an American audience, transports us to the Italian coast. These detectives are nothing like their gritty and jaded American or British counter-parts. Opera, cultural and food references abound, and we see more of the personalities of the detectives than a display of their skills or physical prowess. Oh, they are highly skilled and get the job done, to be sure, but it is the way they go about it, with humor, wit, and a distinctive Italian mind set that sets this series apart and makes The Fourth Secret a thoroughly enjoyable novella.

Highest recommendation to lovers of classic style mysteries.