Saturday Selection: Matt Rees and Andrea Camilleri

Two books to look out for in the New Year feature the detectives created by Matt Rees and Andrea Camilleri, that is, Omar Yussef and Inspector Montalbano respectively.

Rees has made quite an impression with his first two books featuring Yussef and The Samaritan’s Secret is set in Nablus on the West Bank, all too familiar to us as a name from countless melancholy news bulletins. The case involves the death of a young Samaritan, and the book is published by Atlantic Books on 23 January.

On the same day, Picador bring out The Paper Moon in paperback. The translation is by the award-winning Stephen Sartarelli. Montalbano investigates the murder of a man shot at point-blank range in the face while his pants are down – very unsporting. According to the press release, the case also involves ‘two evasive, beautiful women as prime suspects, dirty cocaine, dead politicians, mysterious computer codes, and a series of threatening letters.’ Camilleri’s series has attracted a large following and I particularly look forward to this one.