A Time of Adversity

1973, and the sunny Mediterranean Islands of Malta are in their first decade as an independent nation. The murder of a priest in a church on the predominantly Roman Catholic islands, shocks the small country, and thrusts bachelor, tubist and food lover Chief Inspector Xavier Xuereb, head of Malta's Police Homicide Unit, into the most callous and gruelling case of his career. As one murder leads to another, a few hints and clues lead Xavier through a thorny maze of organised child abuse and corruption that weaves through Malta, its sister Island Gozo, London and The Vatican. His politically-motivated superiors increasingly hamper Xavier's investigation, while his depressed nagging widowed mother is a further added burden. The case reaches an unorthodox, unexpected climax in the final months of 1974, the year Malta declares itself a Republic.