Some trials end with a verdict. Others leave questions that follow a country for years.

American-born writer and independent researcher Alexander Hartmann has called Malta home for more than twenty-five years. During that time, he developed a deep interest in the people, institutions and defining events that have shaped the island’s recent history.

In If Not Him, Who?, Hartmann goes beyond the familiar headlines, bringing together evidence, conflicting testimony and overlooked details from one of Malta’s most consequential criminal cases. He wrote the book not to challenge the jury’s verdict or dictate what readers should believe, but to examine the question that remained after the courtroom fell silent: if the accused was not responsible, what does the evidence tell us now?

The writing is intended for readers who believe that a verdict can be respected without bringing every question to an end. Through a measured yet compelling investigation, Hartmann invites readers to revisit what they thought they knew, confront the contradictions for themselves and reach their own conclusions about the case that changed Malta forever.