Life is relatively calm on the tiny island of Malta where everybody knows something on everyone. Time moves slowly albeit there is always a scandal or two in the news. Then, serenity is shattered by the murder of Marthese Bartolo.

The case is assigned to the cultured and sophisticated Inspector Sander Debono and his motley team at CID. Suspicion soon falls on the husband but there is only one snag: no circumstantial evidence can be found to nail him...
Between fleeing a shrink, talking to a deceased father and being haunted by recurrent nightmares, Debono starts digging into the life of the unhappy couple unearthing pain, infidelity and deceit. But with every step forward he seems to be taking another in the opposite direction.

Time and again, in his dogged search for the truth, Inspector Debono is forced to juggle what is legal with what is expedient and, to solve this riddle, he finds himself bending rules and regulations.

Autorentext

Jesmond Grech, a Maltese author and teacher, was born on September 14, 1963, in Mtarfa. Growing up in Paola, he attended primary school and pursued secondary education at Mt Carmel College and St Paul's Missionary College. He holds a Bachelorship (1986) and Masters in Education (1990) from the University of Malta. Grech married Mary nee Pace and has two children.

His passion for literature began with stories from his family and book-reading programs by Charles Arrigo. Grech had two ambitions: to become a teacher and an author, both of which he achieved. Early in his career, he co-authored an anthology of poems called L-Għaxra tal-Ħamsa and authored Demm fil-Korsija. Recognizing the challenges of writing in Maltese, he pursued it as a hobby.

Grech's interest in writing for children led to books like Mid-Dinja ta' Ġorġ and an adaptation of Greek myths titled Stejjer mill-Greċja. He pioneered adolescent literature in Malta with his book Ġenerazzjoni Paceville in 1999. He developed a simple, flowing style, evident in his self-published series Kotba tal-Qalb, with works like Gideb u Mħabba and Mħabba mill-Ġdid serialized for TV.

His nursery rhymes anthology Bongi Wongi u l-Avventuri Tiegħu, illustrated by Marisa Attard, represented Malta at the Tour d'Europe en 27 Livres d'Images exhibition in France in 2008. Grech's first crime novel, A Simple Affair, set in Malta, was published in 2021. His contributions to Maltese literature have been appreciated by both children and adults due to his accessible writing style.