Andrea Camilleri — who replaced Sciascia, Bufalino and Consolo as the writer who best expresses the island’s ‘sicelitude’ — enjoys tremendous popularity in Italy and around the world. His books are ubiquitous. His novels, especially those dealing with Salvo Montalbano, a police inspector who lives in the imaginary town of Vigàta, made him the best-selling author of all times in Italy.

Even though he started writing novels when he was 69 years, he managed to publish 100 novels by the time he died in 2019. He was so prolific that a Catanese journal printed this headline in cubital letters “Basta Camilleri!” that I readily translate as “Enough already, Camilleri!” — making a rhyme without trying.