It so happened that on or around the day when I began to read this book, a man had been found murdered at L-Ahrax. This book too is about a man who is found murdered at L-Ahrax. In both cases, the victim’s car was found nearby.

There ends the similarity.

In the book’s story, the murdered man is one of Malta’s most popular footballers, Martin Mizzi, a defender with Hibernians.

On the face of it, the victim was a model husband, a good player and an honour to his team. But then Inspector Grillo gets his teeth into it and revelations start tumbling out.

What emerges is a Malta many of us will not recognize, yet we all suspect it is there all the time – drug networks, Romanian gangs, corruption in football – you name it, it’s all there.

The inspector is depicted in realistic terms, though I doubt the police corps will like that, an earthy man (with earthy language) and with a personal background full of crises.

Like all crime novels, this builds to a climax that is gripping and tense.

What remains after closing the book, I repeat, is the sensation that this is a Malta that is not talked about but that we all suspect is out there just beyond our consciousness.

It is a pity that the book’s blurb tells the reader this is ‘another Victor Grillo thriller but does not give the name of the previous book. One has to go to Google to get that – another Latin name, Prima Facie, later turned into a television serial.