This is hardly a mystery, yet I really liked it. I listened to the audio version, which is very good. I can't explain well why I like the Guido Guerrieri series so much, and I know this writing is not for everyone. There is more talk than action and more ambiguity than clarity. This book, even more than the previous four, is light on mystery and heavy on Guerrieri's complicated introspective musings. In fact, the publisher's summary gives everything away so we know where this is headed even before we start. Nevertheless, I was hooked because the writing is so much fun. Relayed entirely in the first person, we see the world only through Guido's eyes. Guido is aging and, at 48, pondering on what his life and legal career have been like. A criminal defense lawyer, he goes through life beset by various ethical dilemmas that challenge his sense of self-worth. He would probably be happier as an academic, but that is not his calling. He is obviously very good in his work but came to it almost by accident, while wondering what he really ought to do with his life. He loves literature, music, women, boxing, and legal machinations that aren't too close to home and are not ethically too challenging. This book is a kind of psychological profile of a long-divorced attorney having a late midlife crisis. He happens to have a network of interesting and loyal friends, the latest of whom is Annapaola Doria, a former reporter who now works as a P.I. She is another person in search of herself but with sharper emotional and psychological insight than Guido. While Guido finds her both intellectually interesting and romantically attractive, she remains a mysterious individual whose depth is only slightly revealed toward the end. I certainly hope that she remains a part of future stories.

I should say that the enjoyment is no doubt enhanced by the consistent reading by Sean Barrett, whose voice seems to express every nuance of a character's speaking or thinking. I wouldn't have thought so, but his clipped British accent seems to fit in surprisingly well with the Italian scene. ( )