Fabio Montale is the perfect protagonist in this city of melancholy beauty. A disenchanted cop with an inimitable talent for living who turns his back on a police force marred by corruption and racism and, in the name of friendship, takes the fight against the mafia into his own hands. "Just as Raymond Chandler and James Ellroy made Los Angeles their very own, so Mr. Izzo has made Marseilles so much more than just another geographical setting."-The Economist "Izzo's ability to describe Marseilles and to make his readers feel the multiracial reality of that city so directly and authentically is fascinating."-Andrea Camilleri "One of the masterpieces of modern noir."-The Washington Post