'Spellbinding . . . superb.' WASHINGTON POST

'Emotionally gripping and defiantly original.' ITALIAN MYSTERIES

AN AURELIO ZEN MYSTERY

Zen finally receives the order he has been dreading all his professional life: his next posting to Sicily.

The gruesome discovery of an unidentified, decomposed corpse sealed in a railway wagon marks the beginning of Zen's most difficult and dangerous murder case. And he will need all his cunning and skill to survive in a world where unwritten rules are enforced with ruthless violence, where one false step can prove fatal, and where the truth must be paid for in blood.

'By far the darkest of Dibdin's remarkable mysteries.' 5* reader review

'The end leaves you gasping.' 5* reader review

'I absolutely loved this book.' 5* reader review

PRAISE FOR MICHAEL DIBDIN AND THE INSPECTOR ZEN SERIES:

'He wrote with real fire.' IAN RANKIN

'A maestro of crime writing.' SUNDAY TIMES

'One of the genre's finest stylists . . . And Zen himself is a masterly creation: he is anti-heroic and pragmatic but obstinate, cunning and positively burdened with integrity.' GUARDIAN

'Dibdin tells a rollicking good tale that you want both to read fast, because of its gripping storyline, and to linger over, to savour the evocative descriptions of place and mood.' INDEPENDENT

'One of British crime fiction's most distinguished and distinctive voices.' ANDREW TAYLOR

'Dibdin has a gift for shocking the unshockable reader.' Ruth Rendell

'Zen is one of the greatest creations of contemporary crime fiction.' OBSERVER

'I love the way these books capture the atmosphere and contradictions of Italy.' 5* reader review

'Aurelio Zen novels are a great treat.' 5* reader review

'There is no better writer than Dibdin. His books are a joy to read.' 5* reader review

'Love these books . . . I am sure you will get hooked too!' 5* reader review