The Track Of Sand: Andrea Camilleri (Picador, £7.99).

The Track Of Sand, Andrea Camilleri’s twelth Inspector Montalbano story to appear in English, once again takes the reader to sun-drenched Sicily as the protagonist attempts to solve another mystery.

This one begins as Montalbano rises one morning to find the carcass of a horse on the beach in front of his seaside hime.

He calls for assistance but by the time his men arrive the horse’s body has vanished, leaving only a track in the sand.

As he looks into the unfamiliar world of horse racing on the isalnd Montalbano meets - and is swiftly seduced by - the horse’s owner, Rachele Easterman.

He also has to work out what the horse’s death has to do with Salvaria Lo Duca, one of the richest men in Sicily - and how the Mafia might be involved.

The plot gets a bit complicated at times but, as usual, much of the delight of Camilleri’s books lies in the character of Montalbano, the grumpy and dogged detective, who finds that dealing with the women in his life is probably harder than solving his criminal cases.