The lazy, slow month of August at the height of the Sicilian summer is, Montalbano assures his girlfriend Livia as they prepare for a relaxing holiday in a villa he has found for them, far too hot for any murders to be committed.

When members of Vigata's elite are targeted in a series of perfectly executed burglaries, Inspector Montalbano reluctantly takes the case. It soon becomes clear however that more links these privileged few than simply their lost possessions. It isn't long too before Montalbano finds himself taken with one of the victims, the captivatingly beautiful

Inspector Montalbano embarks on his final case and, as with Sherlock Holmes and Inspector Morse before him, his last adventure is as thrilling as it is surprising. Riccardino marks a fitting end to a remarkable series of novels.