The Age Of Doubt by Andrea Camilleri (Mantle, hardback £16.99)

Inspector Montalbano, Camilleri's great detective creation, is always good company, whether he is worrying about his relationships, trying to avoid the dreaded Commissioner or enjoying a meal at one of his favourite restaurants.

I tend not to read the Montalbano books for their plots, but for fresh insights into the inspector and to relish his interactions with his work colleagues, such as Inspector Augello and the comic Catarella.

And, of course, to soak up the atmosphere of Sicily and to enjoy that feeling of getting lost in a world very different from our own here in Britain.

For the record, The Age of Doubt involves a mysterious yacht that docks in Vigata harbour, having discovered a corpse floating in the water, the dead man's face being badly disfigured.

Montalbano falls for the beautiful customs officer Lieutenant Belladonna but, as ever, his relationships with women are awkward and confusingfor him.

There is a dramatic finale to this book, with more straight 'action' than you normally get in one of Camilleri's novels. And it ends tragically for one of the characters.

Camilleri has carved out a great niche with these books - long may the series continue.