It is 1973. The sunny Mediterranean Islands of Malta are in their first decade as an independent nation. As the body of a dead boy is found in the sea by the cliffs, a priest is murdered in a church. The small, predominantly Catholic country is in shock and plunges bachelor, tubist and food lover Chief Inspector Xavier Xuereb, head of the Maltese police homicide squad, into the most heartless and gruelling case of his career. One murder follows another, and few clues and circumstantial evidence lead Xavier through the thorny maze of organised child abuse and corruption that spans Malta, the sister island of Gozo, England and the Vatican. His politically motivated superiors increasingly hamper Xavier's investigations, while his nagging widowed mother is an added burden. The cases reach an unorthodox, unexpected climax in the final months of 1974, the year Malta declares itself a republic. (Original book title: A Time of Adversity)