| Synopsis: |
This new translation into English of the acclaimed writer's final detective story serves as the perfect introduction to an important Italian writer. Published just before the author's death, this novella refines and condenses Sciascia's analysis of corrupt systems and the crucial part they play in Sicily's politics and society. In a small Sicilian town, a young and inexperienced policeman receives a strange phone call from a retired diplomat. On investigating the matter, he finds the diplomat dead. What at first appears to be a simple case of suicide threatens to turn into a much more intricate situation, as the mounting investigation implicates pillars of the community. 'A Simple Story' is here published alongside 'Candido', a novella inspired by Voltaire's masterpiece Candide, the story of a naive young man making his way in the world. |