The latter story is an earlier work and is still a powerful critique of mafia culture, but was too much on the nose. I liked To Each His Own better than The Day of the Owl. Despite the police honing in on the clues that point to the pharmacist being responsible for the death of the two men, Laurana believes that there is something shady about this family and proceeds to become entangled in the the web he is trying to unravel. Although Dean Rosello is a local pastor, he is both the spiritual and terrestrial head of household for a family that owns vast tracts of land in and around the city and protected his brothers’ widows, raising their children, including Luisa and another Rosello, as though they were his own, ensuring that his family members married well and received influential posts in local government. Roscio, who had recently took an emergency trip to Rome and is married to Luisa the beautiful niece of Dean Rosello.
Slowly, though, his suspicions are transferred onto the death of Dr. Laurana’s investigation continues around his school duties, starting with the provenance of the death threat.
The police investigation quickly stalls, but the case attracts the attention of Professor Paolo Laurana, a teacher and literary critic who is particularly captured by the death threat, which is made up of newspaper clippings that include the word “Unicuique” (suum): to each his own. Neither man returns home, but their bodies and the animals they killed are later found. He is disturbed, but writes it off as a prank and continues with his plan to go hunting with his friend Dr. The story opens when the town pharmacist receives a death threat in the mail. However, unlike The Day of the Owl, To Each His Own is told through the lens of a native Sicilian.
Both are mysteries set in small town Sicily and both cases center on the exploitation of power by shadowy family organizations that may or may not be the mafia, depending on who is talking. Despite being radically different stories, the two novels have certain similarities. To Each His Own is the second novel I’ve read by the Sicilian author Leonardo Sciascia, the first being The Day of the Owl. “But,” he said to himself, “Sicily and maybe all Italy is full of likable people who should have their heads chopped off.”
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