'Il Re del gelato' 
Author: Cristina Cassar Scalia 
Publisher: Einaudi Stile Libero / 2023
Pages: 135

Some years ago I was invited to a meal at a popular Valletta restaurant.

At one point I noticed that my host (now regrettably dead) seemed more interested to eavesdrop on the conversation going on behind his back.

That table was occupied by ladies who in one way or another came from the wider justice network in Malta. Many of them have become famous or notorious these past days.

I asked my friend what they were discussing with so much fervour. He replied in Italian "storie di corna" and we continued with our meal.

There are 60 miles between Sicily and Malta, and two languages in between, but at least the same religion. Thanks to the British we have two different systems of justice - the continental and the British one. Our legalese is still very much Italian but cloaked in Maltese.

The people in the restaurant that day came from the wider judicial area in Malta and despite the obvious differences and the absence of the discriminant "corna" so too the people in this novel. 

The two groups are interchangeable - the Sicilians would fit very well in the Valletta restaurant.

The women tend to be unmarried or divorced/separated, or what used to be described on Facebook at least some years ago, "it's complicated".

The story, like the previous one, Sabbie Nere, which I have already reviewed on these pages, has Vanina Guarrasi as its protagonist. 

Vicequestore aggiunto Giovanna Guarrasi, to give her the full designation, was born in Palermo. Her father, a police officer, was killed by the Mafia approximately 26 years ago. This tragedy unbalanced the frail constitution of Vanina and she asked and was given a posting in Catania after some years in Milan. Her fragile love affair with another hero of the fight against the Mafia was another victim of the tragedy. 

Vanina now lives in Santo Stefano, on the slopes of the Etna. In her spare time she watches old Italian movies but mostly she grabs the few hours she gets to spend at home to recuperate from her hyper lifestyle.

Among her bosom friends, people who could perfectly fit in with the group in the Valletta restaurant are the people she works with at the Catania law enforcement - Marta, an enigmatic figure who rides motorbikes, and Giuli, a lawyer friend with the figure of a model.

The story begins when people at four different gelaterias all belonging to the "King of Ice-cream", Agostino Lomonaco, began reporting they found capsules which they suspected contained drugs in their ice-cream.

Vanina went to interview the old proprietor in the oldest of his gelaterias. She asked him if he had enemies, or if he was paying the "Pizzo". Negative in both cases. Then she began suspecting it could have been one of his employees because Lomonaco was renowned as a hard employer.

That left his immediate family - his wife Maria and his two children, Corinna and Ringo.

Vanina continued with her ordinary day, complicated by a fierce storm. Then after midnight she was woken up by the police: Agostino Lomonaco had been found murdered in his own gelateria, the same where Vanina had interviewed him earlier in the day.

The next hours show the difference between the Maltese model, which I describe as heavily dependent on politics, and the continental model where the judicial system is more or less autonomous and self-managing.

Some of the investigators think the murder was a theft gone wrong but Vanina thinks otherwise.

The next day she is visited by the widow, all dressed in black but with splendid eyes, and the two children. She relates mostly to the girl but then it's discovered the old man was about to disinherit her. Corinna's position becomes fragile.

Analysis of telephone contacts next shows surprisingly long conversations by Agostino with a key rival, Ruggero Cammarada who has a rival gelateria stall at the entrance of Villa Bellini. Could this be the motive behind the murder?

The situation becomes even more complicated. Cammarada is not just Lomonaco's old commercial rival but also something else - Lomonaco had begun to believe that there was something going on between his wife and Cammarada. And that Corinna is not his daughter.

Hours later comes the news of a gas explosion at Cammarada's workshop with one victim. But Cammarada, the only victim, was already dying from cancer.

Other twists follow until the final development which explains everything conclusively.

The author was born and still lives in nearby Noto and practises as an ophthalmologist. Hence, the details she inserts mostly on the gastronomical level - the street food, such as bread from Ragusa, unobtainable elsewhere. 

And the sundry details about language - the Catanesi call Etna, with which they have a love-hate relationship "muntanja". For Vanina, born and bred in nearby Palermo, the same words have a different meaning.