A Sunny Place for Shady People

“If you did not know this was a true story, you would think you had picked up a crime thriller—and the gangsters here were a sovereign government in the EU. A terrible and frightening story, brilliantly told.” — Barney White-Spunner, author of Berlin: The Story of a City “A vivid, sobering, enraging, funny in a throw-up-in-your-mouth kind of way, and first-class read. Malta will richly deserve it if it produces a tourist boycott for the next decade.” — Julian Evans, author of Semi-Invisible Man: A Life of Norman Lewis “Ryan Murdock’s A Sunny Place for Shady People is at once the story of a shocking crime and a fascinating, personal interpretation of a unique island society beset by corruption and fractured by clannish allegiances. Recommended.” — Tom Parfitt, author of High Caucasus: A Mountain Quest in Russia's Haunted Hinterland “True crime in the sun! In this gripping and thoughtful book, Ryan Murdock lifts the lid on an island he made home, uncovering ‘virtual’ piracy and an astonishing story of skulduggery and menace. A great read.” — Sara Wheeler, author of Terra Incognita: Travels in Antarctica “Carefully written and thought-provoking . . . a real page-turner that is a little like a blend of A Year in Provence and The Godfather, but it’s six years in Malta and the criminality is not fictional.” — Eamonn Gearon, author of The Sahara: A Cultural History “A meticulously researched and gripping portrait of Malta’s decades of corruption and the assassination of its foremost journalist. It is a terrifying story, and Ryan Murdock tells it extremely well.”  — Caroline Moorehead, author of Mussolini’s Daughter: The Most Dangerous Woman in Europe “Malta was always eccentric, insular (in every sense), and vaguely roguish. But between 2011 and 2017, the state’s corruption turned homicidal . . . Ryan Murdock was there to witness the decline, and his account is exquisitely researched, deftly rendered, painfully revealing, and important.” — John Gimlette, author of The Gardens of Mars: Madagascar, an Island Story “Ryan Murdock depicts the tiny island of Malta as a veritable carnival of high crime, low crime, misdemeanor, and rude behavior. Shift the perspective ever so slightly and you’ll find yourself thinking of other parts of the world. A compelling read!” — Lawrence Millman, author of The Last Speaker of Bear: My Encounters in the North