Leonardo Sciascia

Equal Danger

(Translated from the Italian by Adrienne Foulke)

JACKET NOTES:  The first man to die was District Attorney Varga, who was conducting the prosecution in the Reis trial. He died with a sprig of jasmine clasped in his hand.
The next man to die was a judge named Sanza, shot through the heart, in Ales, a town about sixty miles away from where Varga had been killed.
The Minister for National Security had assigned Inspector Rogas to investigate the murders. Rogas was an exceptional investigator-his head worked well, and his head told him there would be a third murder, and that it would be the murder that would provide the clue he'd need to solve them all.
He was at least partially right-the highest ranking magistrate in the town of Chiro, Judge Azar, was the next victim.
This is a novel that explores many things, including the codes of justice and the power that taints and destroys courts and governments. It is a complex, ironic novel, and a most important one.
(© Harper & Row)