Min nasab lis-Sur Wilf? 
Author: Ben Agius
Publisher: Horizons / 2024
Pages: 208

This is the second time in under a year that I am reviewing a book by this prolific author.

The other one was about corruption in the building of a new hospital which led the investigations over the sea.

This time there is no crossing of oceans and all the action takes place in Malta.

Wilf is a timid accountant who has inherited his father's small accounting business and clients.

He has also inherited his father's redoubtable sister Zija Gulina who rules him with an iron rod.

At the beginning of the action Wilf strikes out on his own - he takes a risk and goes to a foreign masseuse, Suxi Li from the Philippines. And falls in love with her. Much against Zija Gulina's wishes. And also, as he discovers, against the wishes of the demure clerk Gemma. Still waters run deep. There is also the maid Vanna who becomes an interested onlooker.

Slowly we are introduced to Wilf's assorted world, ranging from the old-time barber, Giraldu, his bosom friend and former policeman Mose, his cousin and IT fixer, Jesmond, and his prime client, Joey Ravioli, the owner of a pastizzi chain (and money-launderer on the quiet).

The action begins when Wilf, exasperated by his aunt's dictatorial attitude versus Suxi Li, decides to get rid of her.

He is told about the Dark Web and, almost as a joke, gives it a try.

Next thing he knows, his aunt, healthy as an oak, dies.

Then Wilf receives a call demanding payment for his aunt's death. The sum asked is horrendous.

And so the saga begins. There are parts that are far-fetched and difficult to believe but the story twists and turns this way and that until the last page.

In the meantime we also meet two champions of the dregs of Maltese society - Elvis 'King' Pisani and the minder, Tyson.

Just before the last page is reached, there is an almighty twist to the whole tale.