Fulvia, a Mafia Princess, must be a dutiful daughter or the family will be dishonoured. She escapes and makes a new life in Canada, but then is betrayed and her husband murdered on the Sicilian coast. The police Chief investigating the case is Marisa, who confronts a station house of skeptical men as well as Fulvia's uncle, the boss of bosses. Interweaving folk tales, classical allusions, and recent Italian history with the conventions of the detective story, Caterina Edwards uses the literary noir to question the very possibility of justice and free will.

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Caterina Edwards was born in England of an English father and an Italian mother. She holds a master's degree in creative writing from the University of Alberta and has taught Canadian literature and creative writing at post-secondary institutions in Edmonton, where she currently lives. In 1997-98, she was the writer-in-residence at the University of Alberta. Her books include the short story collection Island Of The Nightingales.

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Caterina Edwards' profile page

"The Sicilian Wife is both a political thriller and an absorbing psychological page-turner. It is set firmly in Sicilian noir and yet travels a Canadian immigrant's dark childhood past. This is a novel, like Sicily herself: full of marvelous contradictions and beauty. Of course, I raced along with the police investigation. I enjoyed each Sicilian proverb and delicacy. But in its final pages I'm sure I could taste the sting in the Sicilian dust."

National Post's top 99 list of 2015 books

"The novel is ambitious, flitting between different timelines and allowing the story of Fulvia's past to inform and enrich de Luca's investigation ... These different threads are well-balanced, making The Sicilian Wife a crime novel with a real depth of character and place."

Peter Oliva, Calgary

"The Sicilian Wife is a clever interpretation of the Mafia noir genre, a great page turner which manages to evoke a refreshingly authentic portrait of contemporary Sicily."

Nathan Ruthven, The National Post