IL GIORNO DELLA CIVETTA (ENGLISH TITLE: THE DAY OF THE OWL)

Il giorno della civetta, set in the early 1960s, tells the story of a carabinieri captain investigating the mafia killing of a local building contractor in a small town in western Sicily. Captain Bellodi pursues his enquiry honestly and intelligently, without realizing that his intervention will stir up hornet's nest. There are powerful figures that have a vested interest in making sure not only that Bellodi's inquiries will come to nothing, but that the very existence of the mafia itself can be denied. Leonardo Sciascia shows us not only the police operations but how shadowy, unidentified figures combine to frustrate Bellodi's investigation. Sciascia's intention in writing the book was to bring to as wide an audience as possible an awareness of the problem of the mafia and its hold, not only on Sicily, but on important areas of public life: the police, the judiciary, politics and even the Catholic Church. He succeeds brilliantly in this picture of his own beloved island.

IL CONSIGLIO D'EGITTO (THE COUNCIL OF EGYPT)

Abbot Vella is a schemer who sets out to exploit the Sicilian aristocracy by making reference to a fictitious ancient Arabic chronicle that enhances the rights of some families and justifies the claim of Naples over the island community.

MORTE DELL'INQUISITORE (DEATH OF AN INQUISITOR)

Each of the two novellas and seven investigative tales in this book unfolds in the form of a judicial inquiry or inquest in which Sciascia's forensic skills are brought to bear on an unresolved mystery from the Inquisition or some later dangerous time.

A CIASCUNO IL SUO (TO EACH HIS OWN)

A small Sicilian town. A anonymous letter threatens the local pharmacist. He thinks it's a joke but his is shot together with a friend of his. No motive for a mafia murder, so why? A schoolteacher, stimulated by the intellectual exercise, starts investigating.

ATTI RELATIVI ALLA MORTE DI RAYMOND ROUSSEL

An illustrious death in Palermo in an illustrious hotel. Sciascia analysis the true case of the death of Raymond Roussel, much too quickly declared suicide by the local police.

IL CONTESTO (EQUAL DANGER)

In an unnamed country, but rather familiar, a number of murders and funerals characterize public life. Within this context, Sciascia tells the story of an anonymous protagonist and a power that's becoming more and more similar to the mafia.

L'ONOREVOLE, RECITAZIONE DELLA CONTROVERSIA LIPARITANA E I MAFIOSI

L'onorevole, almost a morality play, tells the story of a school teacher who is elected for parliament and builds his career on lies and treachery, intrigues and compromise, losses and public as well as private betrayal. Recitazione della controversia liparitana is dedicated to A. D. (its 1969 - Alexander Dubcek) and describes a conflict between State and Church in the 18th century during the passing of the island from Aragon to Savoy. The last story, I mafiosi, finds the moment in time of when the mafia moved from being "society of honor" to state mafia.

IL MARE COLORE DEL VINO (THE WINE DARK SEA)

A collection of short stories written between 1959 and 1972, showing all Sciascia's narrative voices.

TODO MODO (ONE WAY OR THE OTHER)

Among the oaks and the chestnut trees of an undefined and beautiful place there is an asphalt square with a cement palace around it. A hotel? A hermitage? A famous painter observes what's going on for a few terrible days. An ironic portrait of Italian politics that, even though published in 1974, tells the tale of what is to come.

LA SCOMPARSA DI MAJORANA (THE MYSTERY OF MAJORANA)

"Object: Disappearance (perhaps suicide) of Prof. Ettore Majorana". The analysis of the true case of the disappearance of Majorana, one of Italy's most famous physicist (defined by Fermi as a genius), who vanished on March 26 1938 during a mysterious boat trip from Palermo to Naples.

CANDIDO OVVERO UN SOGNO FATTO IN SICILIA (CANDIDO: OR A DREAM DREAMED IN SICILY)

Candido Munafò was born in Sicily during the landing of the Americans in 1943. This is his story in a number of brief chapters. This young, easy going, hard headed and contemplative man in that ends up in the eyes of the world as a little monster.

L'AFFAIRE MORO (THE MORO AFFAIR)

This book was written in 1978, year of the kidnapping and execution of the Italian MP and leader of the Christina Democrat Party, Aldo Moro. During his imprisonment, Moro wrote a number of letters accusing politicians and other personalities of having abandoned him. While many people where describing these letters as written by a madman, or at least of no value, Sciascia analyzed them thoroughly therefore helping us understand a horrible episode in the history of Italy.

NERO SU NERO

Sciascia analyses the events "without truth" that characterized Italian history from the case of Giuliano to the Moro affair.

IL TEATRO DELLA MEMORIA

"Who is he?" The photograph of a bearded man under this title on an Italian magazine in 1927 opened the incredible Bruneri-Canella case that was one of the most popular stories of the newspapers in those days in Italy. A person caught thieving in Turin declared he had lost his memory and because of that was sent to an asylum. Having seen the photograph and later the man himself, the family of Professor Canella recognized him and especially the wife was adamantly certain. However some important proof (including fingerprints) moved the truth elsewhere: he was Mario Bruneri, con man. But Mrs. Canella did not give up. This is the story of the trial.

LA SENTENZA MEMORABILE

An "inquisition" played between a court case of the 16th century and a page by Montaigne.

LA STREGA E IL CAPITANO

Milan 1616. Caterina Medici, a young woman working in the house of Senator Luigi Melzi, is condemned to be burnt to death because with the help of the devil she fabricated strong stomach pains for the poor Senator. A story of the inquisition and the effect of superstition.

1912+1 (1912 PLUS ONE)

8 November 1913: Countess Maria Tiepolo, wife of Captain Carlo Ferruccio Oggioni, murders her husband's orderly, Quintilio Polimanti. Sciascia analyses the case and tells the story of law and the search for truth in the days immediately after the First World War when this court case took place.

PORTE APERTE (OPEN DOORS)

A true story of blood and injustice at Palermo during the 1930s. The court case against a man is transformed by the Fascist regime into an occasion for self-celebration and decide what is right and what is wrong.

IL CAVALIERE E LA MORTE (THE KNIGHT AND DEATH)

The story of a threatening and mysterious note exchanged between two powerful men during a lunch immediately followed by the murder of one these two and the enquiry on the other, geared mainly to demonstrate his innocence.

UNA STORIA SEMPLICE

A simple story but extremely complicated. A phone call to the police with a truncated message, a seemingly simple case of suicide. But the story spreads, expands, leaving us without the time to sit and think.

A FUTURA MEMORIA (SE LA MEMORIA HA UN FUTURO)

A collection of essays on certain cases of murder, administration of justice and mafia by Sciascia with the attempt to warn and teach people of the future that is to come.