What an annoying book this is! The story is muddled. The characters are often just dropped in and never explained. (What purpose does the new member of the Information Office named Pemberton serve in this tale? None, as far as I can see.)

Okay, the story, briefly, is this: In Malta in the summer of 1942, the war effort teeters on the brink of failure. British Information Officer Max Chadwick is the person charged with manipulating the news to keep up the spirit of the inhabitants of the island. Then he learns of the brutal murder of a young Maltese woman, a murder that appears to have been committed by a British officer. If word of this gets out, it threatens the morale of natives and their willingness to work with the British to repulse the Germans. Soon, Max learns that this murder may not have been the only one. It seems that there may be a serial murderer taking advantage of the war to hide his crimes. How can Max stop him and still perform his morale-building duties as Information Officer?

I freely admit that I just never "got" this story. Maybe that is partly a failure on my part as a reader. Perhaps it would appeal to the reader who is enamoured of reading about the World War II period and who doesn't mind lots of loose ends sticking out all over the place. If there is such a reader out there, then here's your book. And welcome to it!