The story was is set on the island of Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands. That, and the author's nice writing style, are probably the best features of the book. Otherwise, I had a number of problems: The story contains a lot of material that is extraneous to the murder plot; I couldn't keep the many different characters straight; the detection was of the "gut feeling" style--I can't imagine a real detective jumping to the conclusions that Moretti did. ( )

The title of this excellent mystery comes from a Shakespearean quote from the Scottish play. One of the means is that a smile may conceal evil intent. This story begins as a grand movie from a best seller is being filmed on the channel island of Guernsey. Before the work has progressed very far there is vandalism of the costumes, a possible threat to the life of the book's author and finally the murder of a wandering philanderer. In all of these situations similar ornate medieval daggers are implicated in the crime.

Detective Inspector Ed Moretti who is in charge of the investigation has been assigned a new partner, a young woman Liz Falla. Moretti feels that the origins of this murder come from the past and he follows his hunches back through the history of the island and it's WWII occupation by the Germans.

Moretti's father had been a POW from Italy who worked on the underground fortifications deep in the bowels of the earth. The knowledge of Italy and Italian helps Moretti pursue this case. This is a very well done mystery with enough backstory to make it very interesting. I am really looking forward to the next in the series.

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