The Cook of the Halcyon

The Cook of the Halcyon is the penultimate novel in the Inspector Montalbano mystery series from the master of Sicilian crime, Andrea Camilleri.

Moments later the all-white schooner, which looked like a hospital ship, began to pass ever so slowly before him, as if wanting to show itself off in all its beauty. The name on the prow said: Halcyon.

Two deaths âEUR" the suicide of a recently fired worker and the murder of an unscrupulous businessman âEUR" lead Inspector Montalbano to the Halcyon, a mysterious ship that visits Vigà taâEUR(TM)s port each day. With very few crewmen, no passengers, and a stern large enough to land a helicopter, it piques the InspectorâEUR(TM)s interest straight away.

In the midst of this, a rare trip to Genoa to visit Livia ends with the Vigà ta police department in disarray, and Inspector MontalbanoâEUR(TM)s position as the head of the commissariat in jeopardy. It will be up to Montalbano to fix the damage done.