Marcello Fois, The Advocate, 1998

A young man is convicted in absentia of sheep rustling in a rural Sardinian setting at the turn of the 20th Century, but the legal defender Bustianu suspects this is a smoke screen for a far greater crime if certain people can get away with it. Marcello Fois is onto a winner with the character of Bustianu, a young, introverted and solitary person more at home with the rustic Sardinian landscape than the selfish motives those around him. A straightforward enough mystery, well told at the right length.   PY