A solid winner from the British Library Crime Classics series, this is less of a traditional whodunit and more of an exciting look at what being a POW in an Italian camp in WWII was like. Yes, there is a death that the inmates want to explain, but it's not the only one as prisoners try to escape. The intricacies of tunneling out under the walls holds your interest and there is a reveal near the end concerning one of the POWs that is satisfying and could have you going back to reread earlier sections of the story. Gilbert wrote well, although a glossary of some of the terms used to describe various ranks within the setting would have been helpful. Note: although totally different in place, I recommend Richard Lakin's The Body Fell On Berlin as another mystery set during WWII.
An excellent story of strife in an Italian prisoner-of-war camp, written by a man who was himself a prisoner of the Italians before escaping after the Allied invasion of Italy. As a result, the realism is excellent. And it is topped off by the idea there is a spy among the British prisoners.
