I read this book in February, 2018.

It's always exciting to start to read new series, especially a famous one that has sold millions of books. This is book one in the Inspector Montalbano series which is set in Vigata, a fictional seaside town in Sicily - Vigata being based on the Sicilian town of Porto Empedocle where Andrea Camilleri was born in 1925. Montalbano is a well respected local police inspector who knows everyone, has lots of friends and sources of information, and is well used to navigating his way through the quirks of local life. We get a picture of a corrupt society, especially the politicians, and above them middlemen, and then the shadowy Mafia. Montalbano has a girlfriend Livia who lives in Italy. Livia and Montalbano keep in touch by phone, and text, and both look forward to the next time they can meet up. Montalbano is very faithful to Livia, although many try to get him to stray. Anna is a policewoman who tries especially hard. She is the daughter of a friend of Montalbano, and so he has two reasons not to accept Anna's advances. Ingrid, a sexy Scandanavian suspect, wanders round his flat almost naked, but Montalbano tells her to cover herself up. And Montalbano really likes his food, local pasta based seafood dishes. I sort of liked Montalbano, but on occasions he was coarser than I would expect. I think I will reserve judgement.

I thought the story was no better than just OK, but it's book one in the series, let's give the author time to get into his stride. Silvio Luparello is a local big wig who has fingers in lots of pies. Two refuse men find his dead body in a car in the Pastures. It seems he died having sex with some prostitute, but of course this is covered up. The two refuse collectors know to phone the lawyer Risso, the middleman above Luparello before they phone the police, and then they report their findings. One of the refuse collectors also finds a very expensive necklace nearby. To cut a long sub story short, Montalbano ensures the finder gets a substantial cash reward, and makes sure he and his family get of town quickly less the reward is repatriated. The money is needed to get medical treatment for their sick child. So Montalbano bends a few rules to do the right thing.

Everyone wants the Luparello case closed as soon as possible - its a straight forward heart attack. And so a succession of worthies phone Montalbano to tell him to get a move on. Montalbano agrees that it will end up as death by natural causes (and so it proves), but it all seems too obvious and Montalbano asks for and is given two days to work on the case. Why would someone as rich as Luparello ever go to the Pastures with a prostitute - he had a secret cottage for such liasons ? And so we learn the back story, and a further sub plot where Ingrid seems to be being set up, etc. It all ambles along, Montalbano eats some nice meals, there is a touch of humour here and there, some coarseness, and it all ends up where it started. I don't like endings where Montalbano has to explain to the readers what it was all about via a concluding summary report to his chief, the Commissioner. It's just like a meeting in the drawing room of a lonely country house for the murderer to be exposed in old fashioned detective fiction.

All in all, I'm a bit luke warm on this series, but it's early days.

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I read this book in February, 2018 whilst on holiday in Sydney.

This is book two in Andrea Cammilleri's series about the Sicily based DI Salvo Montalbano. It's a series that has not yet entrapped me. Perhaps it's just jet lag, but I kept falling asleep reading this book, newly arrived in Sydney. It's a famous book series that sells itself on its sense of place, and droll humour - and it does deliver on these promises. We get a picture of a slow paced way of life where most of Montalbano's police colleagues are made out to be imbeciles, and most politicians are corrupt. The police are full of moles - so no plan to attack the mafia, say, could ever be kept secret, and so all plans fail before they start.

I read this book in March, 2018 whilst on holiday in Sydney.

I read this book in June, 2018.

This is book four in the Inspector Salvo Montalbano series, set in Sicily. Book three ended with Montalbano and his girlfriend Livia besotted with young Francois, wanting to adopt him, and preparing to get married. Now it's six months later. There are problems with the adoption papers, and Montalbano's friend the commissioner has retired, and is no longer around to smooth over the paperwork and take care of the bureaucracy. We can still get married says Livia. Montalbano invents a lightening storm, and hangs up.

Francois is being loooked after by the sister and her husband of a friend of Mantalbano on a remote farm. Francois loves it there, has two new brothers, and has bonded with his new family. But he has a recurring nightmare - that Montalbano will come and take him away. Montalbano is upset, but realises that children are not possessions to be moved here or there. The boy must be allowed to decide. Livia, on learning of the situation, thinks it is a trick to get cheap labour for the farm, and that Montalbano does not care. She flies to Sicily secretely and is distraught to hear it from Francois himself. She wants to fly back without even seeing Montalbano, but is persuaded to see him. Never once does she consider that Montalbano might be just as upset as she is. This lack of understanding is not a good basis for a marriage. Marriage is off, at least for now.

The main story is about a beautiful woman, Lucia Licalzi, the young wife of an older business man in Bologna, whose car is crashed into by Montalbano's crew. They leave a message on the windscreen, but no one contacts the police. Montalbano investigates, breaks into Lucia's house, and finds her naked and dead, murdered on a bed in the house. Montalbano has to leave , get a friend to phone the police with an anonomous tip off, and then investigate officially and rediscover the body.

Although Montalbano starts the investigation, there is a new commissioner in charge who dislikes Montalbano - the feeling is mutual - and so Montalbano is taken off the case. Everyone is incensed except Montalbano There is a lot of politics and trickery, and corruption, but eventually Montalbano gets the case back again, having seen off his rival. Lucia had been trying to raise money to finance her lover's gambling. Soon we discover the meaning of the title - i.e. the violin.

All in all, it's a good story, and a good read with lots of humour. The idiot member of the Montalbano team, Caterella, who is not even capable of answering the phone and taking messages, is sent on a computer training course, and turns into a genius ! Only in Sicily !

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I read this book in July, 2018.

I am quite getting into this series - the adventures of Inspector Salvo Montalbano in Sicily. Sometimes he doesn't have a kind word to say about any of the motley crew that surround him, but in this story, all of a sudden, he is enormously proud of his colleagues who now function as a top rate team. And so, when Mimi Augello is possibly leaving to join a new girlfriend, and transfer away from Vigata, Montalbano is mortified. It's the crack that will destroy his team. Cunningly Montalbano introduces Mimi to a beautiful witness, and asks her to repeat her statement, it works very well - and the distant girlfriend / fiance is forgotten.

There are two main plots. A young man is found murdered, his body lying outside his block of flats. This is the same block of flats from where an old, reclusive married couple disappeared. They went on an organised bus trip to neighbouring Tindari, sat separately at the back of the bus, spoke to no one, got off at a comfort break, and were never seen again. Eventually their murdered bodies are discovered. Now it's two murder investigations - are they connected ? Usually two cases in crime fiction do turn out to be connected.

There is a lot of background story to go through before we eventually discover what the tale is really about. It comes as a surprise to everyone.

These stories are not about the Sicilian mafia, but sometimes they do make an appearance. Here, once again, Montalbano is summonsed to visit a mafia chieftain. Montalbano is to arrest the don's grandson who'll be safer in prison. Things are not as they seem - and Montalbano manages to navigate his way through a very tricky situation. And then, we discover that the three stories are connected.

Livia is still Montalbano's absentee girlfriend, but beautiful Ingrid is in Vigata in the flesh, and is an excellent nurse to an injured Montalbano. Just what happened when Ingrid spent the night with Montalbano is left unclear - including to a confused Montalbano. Was he unfaithful to Livia for the first time ever - we simply don't know ?

There is a lovely ending where two of Montalbano's team turn up to protect their leader's back.

Of course there is a lot about food - mostly the kind of food e.g. seafood that I don't like personally - and a lot of humour. All in all, a good mix, and a very readable story.

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I read this book in September, 2018.

I read this book in October, 2018.

This is book seven in the Inspector Montalbano series by Andrea Camilleri, and it's another worthy outing for Montalbano and all his crew - colleagues Augello, Mimi, Fazio, and the idiot Catarella, Livia, his distant girlfriend, Ingrid, present and a constant temptation, and Adelina, his long suffering cook / housekeeper.

This book opens with Salvo Montalbano in deep despair. It fills all the news that corrupt policemen under the influence and control of malevolent politicians, have beaten up innocent protesters, and failed in their cover up efforts. All police suffer the backlash, and even in Vigata graffiti is daubed on the police station walls. Montalbano is not corrupt, and his crew are as honest as the day is long - but still they get called pigs. It's not fair. Montalbano decides to pack it all in, tells Livia, and makes an appointment to see the commissioner to hand in his notice. Luckily the commissioner is away for a few days, and a lot can and does happen in a few days.

We are then introduced to two plots which will obviously turn out to be connected. Firstly, whilst out for a swim, Montalbano comes across a floating corpse, and with great difficulty, gets it ashore. Later the pathologist, who is going off on holiday, takes Montalbano aside to tell him that he thinks the victim was murdered - althought the assistant pathologist who will do the autopsy will not say so on the report. In the second plot Montalbano happens to be present when some police colleagues escort some illegal immigrants off a rescue craft. A young boy runs off, trying to escape, but runs up a blind alley. Montalbano identifies himself to the police, and says he will get the boy. The boy trusts Montalbano, and takes his hand. Salvo, thinking he is doing the right thing, hands the boy over to his wailing, and injured, "mother" who is being helped into a waiting ambulance. Why is the boy not rejoicing ?

There is quite a lot written about the wretched condition of those persecuted abroad, starving and hungry , or fearful for their lives. They make a perilous crossing to Italy in wave after wave of despair. Camilleri writes movingly of their plight. His answer is easy - their need is obvious, let them all in, he says. Sadly though, I fear there are too many, although Camilleri would not agree. Anyway, we have introduced the subject of illegal immigrants, and it turns out that in this story, plots one and two, we are dealing with child trafficking. The children are valuable commodities for paedophiles, or for spare part surgery. Montalbano vows to do all he can to catch the vile people behind these crimes. Later we will see how Montalbano reacts when the body of the young lad whose hand he took, turns up the victim of a hit and run "accident." It was not his "mother" that Salvo handed the boy over to. Montalbano is horrified at what he has done, it is too late to help the young boy, but he can catch those responsible, and so the story unfolds.

In Montalbano's private life the Salvo / Livia / Ingrid set up is intriguing. Livia is seldom in Vigata, she and Salvo keep in touch by phone. But Ingrid is more than beautiful, and there is even an episode where she sleeps naked in Montalbano's bed. He gets in beside her, intending only to get some sleep, but staggers away again and sleeps on the couch. Is this going to be a running joke, that somehow Salvo will remain faithful to an absent Livia ? As in all these books, we get lots and lots about food - the gourmet meals that make life worthwhile for Salvo Montalbano.

All in all, a good plot, a well written story, and a book I enjoyed reading. Need I add, Montalbano does not hand in his resignation - but did we ever think he would ?

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I read this book in January, 2019.

This is book 8 in the Inspector Montalbano of Sicily series by Andrea Camilleri. The book opens with Salvo Montalbano on sick leave from the Vigata police. He had previously been shot in arresting a drug dealer. He was wounded at 03:27 am, and now, some weeks later, he wakes regularly at that time, and relives the dreadful events when he lay there listening to the doctors discussing whether he would live or die. His morbid thoughts are now of death - his death. Recently he had come into a small inheritance - enough to buy a house in Marinella, and have something set aside for the future. He would leave the house to Livia, who had been staying with him for the past few weeks to help him convalesce. He would also leave enough to buy a car to Francois, who is almost his son. And to the idiot policeman Caterella (who worships Montalbano and whom Montalbano now tolerates) he would leave his father's watch.

Anyway, to the story. Montalbano is called in from sick leave to advise on a kidnap case. Beautiful 20 year old Susanna Mistrella has not returned home, and her scooter has been found on a side road- not the normal road for her to take on her way home. But why kidnap Susanna ? Her mum was dying, and her father was now poor - he had given away his fortune as a loan to a brother who never repaid it. How could they pay a ransome ? It soon turns out not to be a strange kidnapping , and not entirely for money. Think politics, as usual. Montalbano eventually works it all out - and again puzzles over what to do for the best, i.e. to follow the letter of the law, or to do what he believes is right.

Montalbano and Livia are a strange couple. Apart, they miss each other, together they squabble, and are not sorry when they part, but only then to start missing each other all over again. They are like a curse on each other - bound together by a strange spell.

I thought this was a good, strong story, very readable, and one which I read quickly - always a good sign.

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I read this book in January, 2019.

This is book 9 in the Inspector Montalbano series, and all the familiar crew are back. Camilleri's Sicily appears a crazy, corrupt country, and to survive there you have to know the system, and play it. In this story, local politicians have died from taking contamminated cocaine. Everyone knows that they have taken cocaine, but it is officially hushed up. So, even if you caught a drug trafficker, you could not charge him with supply when officially the politicians did not take cocaine ! Any policeman who presses the point will be targeted and dismissed when political party B are next in power. The police are pressed to do something, but what can they do ?

Against this background, Montalbano does his best, but doesn't expect any of his successes to end up in court convictions. What a country !

The main story here is Michela Pardo reporting that her brother Angelo is missing. Michela is good looking, but hides it under frumpy clothes. Angelo's body is found, shot. He had been lavishing expensive gifts on his very, very attractive girlfriend Elana - e.g. sports cars, etc. Where would a medical rep. get enough honest money to do that ?

Michela and Angelo had been very close, even having a joint bank account. How much did Michela know of Angelo's obvious shady dealings ? There are two main suspects for Angelo's murder - his sister and his girlfriend - two beautiful young women who hate each other. It soon turns out that Angelo himself was an evil, corrupt man. All his business secrets are hidden behind layers of protected computer security that Caterella is tasked to decode.

Surprisingly, officially, it's not even Montalbano's case - but everyone knows of the famous Inspector Montalbano, and at the end there is a solution - but of course, not one that will end up in a court of law.

Livia visits Montalbano for three days, and they manage not to quarrel once ! Lovely Ingrid sends Montalbano some salmon in a special sauce. Salvo never used to need an alarm clock, but now he uses one - with much musing on advancing years, and possibilities of memory loss.

The book is just pure farce, but for me, it seems to be losing some of it's charm. I read this book on holiday in an Australian heatwave - maybe it was just too hot to concentrate. I wonder how much of my appreciation of a book depends on the weather ? Snow outside, warm and cosy inside with a good book. That must make some sort of a difference.

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I read this book in February, 2019.

This is book 10 in Andrea Camilleii's Inspector Salvo Montalbano series. The "August Heat" title refers to the extreme heat that grips Sicily in August. It's too hot to walk, too hot to work, almost too hot to think. Maybe it's the extreme heat that leads Montalbano to make a fool of himself over a beautiful young woman whom he imagined would be interested in someone old enough to be her father.

The book opens with Livia arranging to rent a holiday villa near Montalbano, intending to holiday with her best friend, her friend's husband, and their young son Bruno. Everything seems to go wrong at the villa, cockroaches, etc - is it cursed ? The final tragedy is when young Bruno goes missing. Montalbano is the one to finally find Bruno - he had fallen into an illegal basement built below the villa. This was built in defiance of planning regulations, and then buried - no doubt to be later uncovered when a building amnesty might be granted.

As well as finding the young boy, Salvo finds a trunk, and on opening it he finds the dead body of a young girl. He keeps quiet about the body so as not to spoil Livia's holiday - but the story breaks, Livia is furious about the deception, and goes back home with the rest of the house party. She arranges to go sailing with her cousin on his yacht - is she being unfaithful to Salvo to pay him back ?

As part of the farce that makes up a Montalbano story, to get out of an unpleasant task, Salvo tells the sex obsessed public prosecutor that the dead girl had a beautiful twin sister. He just invented this story - so imagine his surprise when he learns that there is indeed a beautiful twin sister - Ariadna. Ariadna, a trainee doctor, seems to fall in love with Montalbano - 30 years her senior. For the first time in these stories Salvo will be unfaithful to Livia (who perhaps is being unfaithful to him). Italian August heat truly drives people crazy !

The main story unfolds - who killed the young girl in the trunk, and can Montalbano go after a man of influence in such a corrupt setting. The story leaves farce and becomes serious towards the end, and Montalbano realises he has acted / been played like an old fool. In short, it's not the usual ending.

I read this book in May, 2019.

This is book 11 in the Sicily set Inspector Montalbano series by Andrea Camilleri. Usually it's a series that I quite enjoy, but sadly I just didn't get into this book. Perhaps I was feeling a bit jaded, but I thought the book seemed very predictable, with much the same happening as before. The Italian names make it difficult to follow who did what, and some Italian references meant nothing. Of course the point of reading about foreign places is to learn new things, so I guess it's me that wrong, not the book.

We meet all the usual characters. Catarelli on the switch board is useless, especially writing down names and phone numbers, Augello and Fazio assist, an often sick kiddie and an anxious wife means one officer is seldom there, Adelina looks after Montalbano as well as usual and prepares some lovely meals, and the Commissioner hounds Montalbano and makes life impossible. Politics is everywhere, and catching crooks and murderers is a lower priority. It's a hopeless set up for poor Montalbano who is getting older and the zing in life has gone.

There are two major crimes to be solved, and to be fair, they make good stories. A local business man has apparently been kidnapped, but no ransome is demanded, and the missing business man's passport is missing too. It seems obvious to the police that the man has just done a runner to spend some time with his mistress, but his wife won't accept this, and is hounding Montalbano to do something. Secondly the body of a beautiful, naked young woman is found in a secluded rubbish tip. The girl had an intricate moth tattoo on her shoulder ( a Sphinx moth, hence the title). Eventually it is discovered that several other girls had / have the same tattoo - they are Russian girls sex trafficked possibly by a wealthy EU funded, church related charity. Are all the girls also thieves ? It's difficult territory for Montalbano to investigate, and he is warned off by the commissioner. At the end of the day both crimes are solved by Montalbano, but handed over quickly to others as Montalbano has an important meeting with his girlfriend Livia - the relationship is all going wrong, as usual.

I guess the main private story is the on going Montalbano / Livia relationship, although they seem to spend most of their time quarrelling. In the last book Livia went off "in the huff" for a cruise with her cousin on his yacht, and Salvo made a fool of himself with beautiful young Ariadna. Livia is not answering Salvo's desperate phone calls - maybe no signal at sea, but what about when she is port. Anyway, this is a serious quarrel, and Salvo wonders if he should just give up. But he and Livia have been sort of together for 15 years! You don't give that up lightly. Eventually they make contact but they hardly know how to speak to each other. Livia is to fly to Sicily to have a serious discussion but, quite correctly she wants to wait until Salvo has no live murder cases. A few days become free and Salvo insists on meeting Livia at the airport. She says she would rather just come by bus but Salvo insists and Livia agrees. Of course the predictable happens. At the last moment there is a new murder, and Montalbano is held up. I get that the Livia / Montalbano set up is a tease - they will never completely part, nor ever marry, but sometimes the lack of change is more than tedious.

I forgot to mention that Salvo's old friend Ingrid turns up, stays the night with Montalbano, but of course nothing happens. Salvo tells Ingrid about Ariadna. Later Ingrid and Salvo have ever so slight an argument but make up instantly. "Forgive me", says Ingrid, "but I was jealous." "Of Livia", asks Salvo? "No, of Ariadna." How much of a clue does Montalbano need ?

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I read this book in October, 2019.

This is book 12 in the Salvo Montalbano series, and so far I have managed to read them all in the correct order. I don't rave about the series, but it's OK, with a good sense of place, a bit of despair about the state of Sicily, but odd quirks of humour, mostly at the expense of Catarelli, the idiot policeman who worships Montalbano.

The book opens with Montalbano having a wierd dream about a gate in the middle of nowhere, and a horse type creature. He wakes up, opens his shutters, and is amazed to see the dead carcase of a horse on the sand. It has been cruelly beaten to death with iron bars. Montalbano is incensed and vows to capture and punish those responsible He calls his colleagues who come and see the animal - they all then go into Montalbano's for a coffee and to call the authorities to have the carcase removed. When the disposal people turn up, the horse is gone, but there is a "Track in the Sand" where the body was dragged away, and then eventually loaded on a truck. Who removed the body, and why ?

Next a vision of lovliness by the name of Rachelle turns up at the police station to report that her horse has been stolen. It turns out that two horses have gone from her friend's stables. So which horse was beaten to death ? Rachelle is an accomplished horsewoman who is here to take part in "secret" horse races in Vigata. The owner of the stables says that a former employee is probably seeking revenge. The stable owner had a argument, beat the employee on the head with an iron bar, caused brain damage, and so the employer feels responsible. The former employee is now an "employee" of the local mafia.

Rachelle is a friend of Ingrid, who sets Montalbano up for a "date" with Rachelle. She takes him into a dark stable, quickly strips naked, and demands Salvo to make love to her. It is all too much of a temptation for poor Montalbano who cannot resist. It is really passionate, but afterwards Montalbano feels used, and sulks. Ingrid points out that he didn't have to make love to Rachelle - he didn't say no at the time, did he ?

Of course, the mafia are sort of involved in the background, but there are lots of other possibilities. Eventually Montalbano sorts it out by guile and trickery.

With both Rachelle and Ingrid on the scene, and answering Montalbano's phone when Livia calls, poor Salvo simply cannot win - but I guess we have become used to this.

All in all, a clever enough story, well told , and just what we have come to expect. This is one of the weaknesses of a series. If nothing changes and we simply get more of the same, eventually we end up longing for change to come - and are disappointed if it never does come. But if you just take it as a light hearted tale, it all works well enough.

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I read this book in March, 2020.

This is book 13 in the series and once again we meet DI Salvo Montalbano and his crew - the idiot Caterella, Fazio, and Inspector Mimi Augello, and of course Adelina, Salvo's excellent housekeeper and cook, Livia, Salvo's long distance girlfriend, and beautiful Ingrid, there to lead Salvo astray. She always seems to get tired and has to lie down in Salvo's bed........ Augello had been a ladies man, but now he should be settled down with Beba and their little baby. Sadly he has gone astray, and in a big way.

There are several strands to this mafia related story. Filippo Alfano was thought to have betrayed his mafia boss, the head of the Sinegra family, and was killed. But Filippo was innocent. To make amends the head of the Sinegra family as good as adopted Filippo's son Giovanni - educated him, and offered him protection. Now an adult, Giovanni is a ship's captain who married a South American beauty Dolores Alfano, and they returned to Italy. Giovanni idolised his beautiful wife, but was often away at sea and Dolores began a passionate affair with the local butcher. Still looking out for Giovanni, the head of the Sinegra family exiled the butcher, but the affair continued in secret. Dolores was an irrestible temptress - one that easily captured Augello. This explains Augello's strange behaviour. He is snapping at everyone, and demanding that Salvo give him his own case, and then not interfere. When Dolores becomes implicated in a murder investigation Augello's position is compromised. He should have confessed all to his friend Salvo and asked for help - but he did the opposite and tried to hush things up. Salvo can forgive almost everything - after all, he too often makes bad mistakes - but Salvo cannot excuse treachery, and disloyalty. Or can he ? For most of the book I thought Salvo was giving Augello enough rope to hang himself, but there was a twist at the end. Well done, the author.

The main story opens on a stormy night. A land slip has revealed a body previously buried in a clay field - the clay is sold to be made into pots - hence the title "The Potter's Field". The body had been chopped into 30 pieces - a reference to the 30 pieces of silver for which Judas betrayed Christ, and Judas then hanging himself in a "Potter's Field". Chopping a body into 30 pieces is a signature of a Sinegra family killing. And so the obvious suspect must be the head of the Sinegra clan. We first met Dolores Alfobano at an apparent attempted hit and run - someone had swerved their car towards Dolores. Next Dolores consults Salvo with a puzzle - her husband Giovanni returned to sea as usual, and later she had got a foreign post card from him, but she didn't think it really was Giovanni who had sent it. In short, her husband has gone missing, and yes, it is Giovanni who has been chopped into 30 pieces. It is this case that Augello wants asigned to himself exclusively - if not he will resign. Salvo is no longer running a happy ship. And so the story unfolds.

Beba complains to Livia that Salvo is being unfair to her husband, and having him work extra hours every night. Salvo is dong no such thing - Augello is with Dolores - but Montalbano doesn't want to upset Beba by telling her her husband is straying. What to do for the best ?

It all works out in the end - quite a clever story, I thought. Somehow Salvo managed not only to solve the crime, giving credit to someone else, but also to save Augello and Beba's marriage, for now, at least.

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I read this book in May, 2020.

This is book 14 in the continuing adventures of DI Salvo Montalbano, so once again we are back in Vigaga with Montalbano and his crew - "idiot" Catarelli, Fazio, Mimi Augello (married to Beba and they have a young daughter), Dr Lattes, the commissioner's office chief, Adelina, the housekeeper and wonder cook, Dr Pasquano, the medical examiner, and Enzo at Montalbano's favourite trattoria. Montalbano is about 58, and in this book he meets a beautiful young lady in her 30s - Lieutenant Laura Belladonna. They mutually fall in love although both have partners - Laura is engaged, and Montalbano has a long term girlfriend in Livia. Somehow we know it is not going to end well.

The book opens with another of Montalbano's dreams. This time he is dead, but walking about and talking to his colleagues. He is devastated to find in his wierd dream that Livia is not sure she can make it to Salvo's funeral - is it this that gives him permission to stray with Laura ? Also at the opening there is a terrible storm, and finding part of the road washed away, Salvo rescues a plain looking young woman stuck in her car. The woman says her name is Vanna Digiulio, and she is hoping to meet her rich aunt arriving in her own yacht. The young woman disappears and she had given Salvo a false name - it turns out deliberately to give the famous detective DI Montalbano a clue telling him to take an interest in the yacht which surprise, surprise, is called Vanna. The Vanna had found a naked man's body floating in the bay in a dingy. The man's face had been beaten to a pulp, making identification difficult. The Vanna is really owned by Livia Giovannini, a sex obsessed ex prostitute. Soon the Vanna is joined by another boat - the "Ace of Hearts". The mystery is who is the naked corpse, what was he doing in Vigata, and what was his connection with these two boats. Beba is away visiting her mum leaving Augello alone. Salva gets him to sleep with La Giovannini and so ingratiate himself and find out what the boats and their crew are up to - international smuggling.

The opening storm had damaged some papers lying on Montalbano's desk - questionaires sent by the commissioner's office. He gets Caterelli to really soak and ruin the papers - thinking he will escape having to deal with them, but Dr Lattes wants a list of what has been lost. Salvo is anxious to spend time with the beautiful Laura, and so he makes up a spur of the moment lie. Dr Lattes thinks Salvo is married with children, so Salvo says one of his sons is so ill that Salvo cannot get away. Montalbano then forgets what son's name he had invented. He tells Livia of his trick and she is ashamed of Salvo -"you should not joke about a child's illness." Salvo tries to get out of the hole he has dug for himself, but end up compounding matters. He tells Dr Lattes that the son has died! The commissioner finds out and takes Salvo off the case. And so the story takes off, Salvo can't stop thinking about Laura, but he ends up placing her in great danger. As I said it doesn't end well.

All in all, it's a good, clever story, quite a puzzle really. And the misunderstandings caused by Salvo's lies add a bit of black humour. The mysterious "Vanna Diguilio" reappears at the end of the story to sort of rescue Montalbano. She is also a sort of DI seconded to a UN backed project.

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I read this book in February, 2021.

This is book 15 in Andrea Camilleri's Sicilian set series featuring the wily Inspector Salvo Montalbano who always manages to keep just one step ahead of the Commissioner and in this story hopefully also just one step ahead of the feared Sicilian mafia. The book opens with Montalbano now 57, and declining into middle age. Sitting on his veranda he watches a seagull drop out of the sky onto the sand, and swirl round with a broken wing in some macabre dance of death, pointing to something with its outstretched beak. Jumping ahead, Montalbano later remembers the seagull's dance and the pointing beak. He is in a mafia victim's blood splattered kitchen where the victim was shot in the foot and forced into another death throes dance, but this time the remembered point leads Salvo towards a wall picture containing a hidden reveal all letter. How Montalbano reacts to this letter is the climax to the book.

It's a typical Montalbano story and we meet once again Salvo's work colleagues Mimi Augello, Catarella, etc, and his friend Zito, the TV journalist. Montalbano is off to the airport to meet Livia, and together they are to go on a 4 day touring holiday. In a nice joke about how famous he has become, Salvo does not want to visit Livia's chosen Val de Nito in case he meets the TV actor playing Montalbano. As usual Livia and Montabano argue about all sorts of petty things, but amazingly Livia is later completely understanding when Montalbano first goes into work just to sign some papers but somehow forgets about and abandons her. Next day, still abandoned, Livia returns home, holiday ruined, merely wishing Salvo had found the time to phone and inform her. Montalbano is shaken - what does this say about how much he cares for Livia.

What caused Montalbano to forget about Livia ? When he went into work he found that Fazio was missing. He had told his wife that Montalbano had called him into work late at night, and never returned. The wife now asks Montalbano what has he done with her husband. A complicated story unfolds. Manzella, an old friend of Fazio, had asked for his help. Manzella liked to spy on his neighbours through a powerful telescope, and pointing his telescope towards the port, had seen mafia dirty business - apparently drug smuggling but actually much worse. Fazio goes to the port to meet Manzella but he never turns up (he can't, he's dead), Fazio gets shot at, injured and captured, and taken away to a country hillside of the three wells. This is a well known mafia body disposal site. An informant tells Zito, Zito tells Montalbano, and soon Montalbano and Caffaro are at the hill calling for reinforcements. Well one is empty, well two contains a decomposed man's body - not Fazio - and well three contains a youngers man's body - also not Fazio, sadly, as we learn much later, Manzella's. Happily Montalbano finds Fazio hiding in a cave. Fazio has a brain injury and had shot at Montalbano - he is rushed to hospital, and needs cranial surgery. A gunman is later found in the hospital corridors. Fazio is still a mafia target, and has eventually to be moved to Palermo.

Montalbano visits Fazio daily, but struggled to find his way to Fazio's ward until he was befriended by a gorgeous young nurse called Angela. Why was she so keen to always be there to guide Montalbano, and why does she accept his invitation to dinner so quickly. Angela too is a mafia victim. I won't say much more about the story as I don't like to write spoilers. However the mafia goon attacking Fazio is Vittoria Carmina, a member of the Sinagra family, and not only is Franco Sinagra involved but the smuggling scam goes all the way up to an important politician Di Santo, undersecretery of foreign affairs. Mimi advises Salvo not to get involved - it's way above his pay scale. But if he passes everything to the Commissioner and upwards, he knows it will all get hushed up. So will he act - dangerous and foolish, or pass as Mimi advises? What will Montalbane do, can he also save Angela, and will she be grateful or drop him when no longer threatened ?

It's a typical, involved, Montalbano escapade - reflective in parts, often humerous. I don't devour these books but they are a pleasant read and generally OK. What's wrong with that ?

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I read this book in March, 2021.

This is book 16 in the Inspector Salvo Montalbano series, set in Sicily. We are back in Vigata, Salvo is now 57, and we meet again Salvo's friends and colleagues - Inspector Mimi Augello (wife Beba, child named after Salvo), Fazio, Gallo, Galuzzo, idiot Catarella, Enzo, the restaurant owner, and of course Salvo's wonderful cook and housekeeper Adelina - she who doesn't like Salvo's long term girlfriend Livia. It's a typical, but I thought terrific Montalbano story with lots of humour involving inflatable dolls, and a real puzzle for Salvo to tackle also to do with these inflatable dolls. I like well constructed stories, and this is a perfect "events come full circle" story, where apparently unrelated events at the start of the book return at the end with a vengeance! Salvo is still having telephone quarrels with Livia, but still more or less remains faithful to her. Salvo's mostly plutonic, beautiful girlfriend Ingrid is back in town - to dine with Salvo, tempt him terribly, spend the night in his bed, but also to help, and ultimately send in the cavalry to rescuue him in a real climax to the story. A great story in a good series.

The book opens with a prolonged quiet spell at Vigata police station broken with odd, one off events. Gregoria and his sister Caterina Palisano live together and are aged, reclusive religious fanatics. When they start firing rifles at passers by, Salvo and Co storm the building using a fire brigade ladder, and their heroics are captured by a local TV camera crew. Montalbano's fame increases. Old Gregoria had been sleeping with an ancient, much repaired, inflatable doll. Before going to bed Salvo finds an envelope addressed to him, and headed "Treasure Hunt." This is the first of several such envelopes each containing doggerel verse clues easily solved by Salvo - it's quiet and he has nothing else to do. He thinks it's just a personal challenge, and quite harmless - he is wrong ! Eventually a roasted lamb's head clue takes Salvo via Enzo's to Gallota where he finds a deserted shack plastered with screen grab photos of him storming the Palisanos, and further on a beautiful, deep "secret" lake. We will return to this scene later.

Several incidents then take place. An hysterical woman reports finding a dead body in her dustbin - this turns out to be another inflatable doll, but wierdly doctored to be identical to the Palisano one. Next a man reports his 4 x 4 car stolen, but he has seen it being driven around town - a blond girl in the back seat popped up, but then down again. And finally another man is distraught - his 18 year old daughter Ninetta has gone missing - she is a good, innocent girl, and with her mother seriously ill, would not just have gone away. Salvo takes the case of the suspected kidnapped girl very seriously, and sets all his crew into action. Mimi confides in Salvo that he has visited a prostitute in a local brothel who is identical to the missing girl - but he has checked the prostitute is not the same girl. Is it a case of mistaken identity ? The prostitute had had a stalker. Salvo reports the possible kidnapping to the Commissioner, and promptly is taken off the case - Inspector Seminara from another station is to head the investigation. Salvo is neither angry nor disappointed - Seminara is a good plodding detective - and anyway, Salvo and crew are to continue unoffically.

Ingrid and Salvo dine at Salvo's and there are misunderstandings galore - the two inflatable dolls are discovered by Adelina, and by Ingrid, Adelina's criminal son Pasquale books a prostitute for poor frustrated Salvo (also discovered by Ingrid), and later, one morning, Adelina finds Ingrid still asleep in Salvo's bed. She is pleased that apparently Salvo has been unfaithful to Livia, and anyway, a real girl is better than two inflatable dolls ! Ingrid asks Salvo to meet one of his fans - a 20 year old student relative of a friend. And so now, Arturo Pennisti meets Salvo. He is a very intelligent philosophy student who says he wants to study how the famous Montalbano's brain works. When does he use logic, when does he ignore it, and follow great leaps of "intuition". Salvo likes Arturo, and lets him help with the treasure hunt. As an aside, in one of his many internal discussions (Montalbano 1 with Montalbano 2) Salvo justifies overeating so often as it's a powerful accellerator of brain function.

It soon becomes obvious that the treasure hunt is not a harmless game. There is a mad, deranged sadist / murderer around - poor Ninetta is obviouly dead - and we readers have our suspicions way before Salvo as to whom it might be. And so the scene is set for a terrific climax involving Ingrid whose distraction doesn't quite succeed, but she proves as before to be a good friend and back up. But Salvo is trapped - has Ingrid called in the cavalry in time ?

I saw a bit of the solution coming, but not the horror of what happened, nor it's explanation - it's such a clever story, and everything ties in and becomes clear. All in all, a great story - well worth reading.

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I read this book in December, 2021.

This is book 17 in the ongoing Inspector Salvo Montalbano stories, set in Vigata, Sicily. Once again we meet Salvo Montalbano and Livia, his long standing girlfriend, his police colleagues Inspectors Fazio and Mimi Augello (away on holiday in this story), station dogsbody and idiot Caterella, and Adelina, Salvo's housekeeper - the provider of most excellent meals. As usual there are a series of misunderstandings and jealousies between Salvo and Livia, and they waste most of their time quarrelling. Montalbano goes into raptures about long meals at Enzos, then walks to his stone at the harbour to await flashes of intuition, and Caterella dotes on Salvo, gets all the names wrong, but is excellent on the computer. Incidentily, a computer game Catarella is playing (a game for two players, but the computer does not know there are not two people) gives Salvo a clue as to what may be behind this latest investigation.

The book opens with Livia on a surprise visit to Salvo, but she is summoned back to work because of staff illness. Her departure leaves Salvo vulnerable to other female temptations. Mimi is away on holiday, others are tied up, and so Montalbano has no choice but to take on a robbery investigation. He usually only does murder investigations, but there are murders connected to the robbery soon enough. There have been a series of robberies of the rich and powerful in Vigata, which all follow a similar pattern. The rich victim is away at a second home, where the robbers break in, gas the occupants into unconsciousness, rob the holiday home, steal the victims house keys and car, and then rob the main residence of lots of valuables (cash, jewellery, fine art, etc).

The latest robbery is from the home of a Dr Perritone, and soon Salvo realises that most of the robberies are from friends of the Perritone's. Salvo gets a list of these friends - there are about 20 names there. Some mastermind, an unknown Mr Z, has hired 3 robbers to do the actual robberies. Who is Mr Z, who writes to Montalbano to welcome him to the game, and taunt him ? The list of friends contains some real rogues, loan sharks, etc. Among the names is a lady victim of goddess like beauty, Angelica Consulich. She arrived in Vigata some 6 months ago, and works as respectable head clerk at a local bank, but she has a far from respectful hobby. She picks up men for sex in her love nest apartment. When Montalbano sees Angelica, like most men he falls for her beauty. In his youth Montalbano had loved an epic poem based on Arthurian legend called Orlando Paridisso, and written by the poet Ludovice Aristo. The herione there was the subject of Salvo's adolescent dreams. Now this goddess has appeared in the flesh in Vigata. Salvo is intoxicated by her beauty. She is half his age, but strangely Angelica seems to be taken with the inspector. In an earlier story we had Salvo making a fool of himself with a young girl, and I thought he was making the same mistake again. Who is Angelica, does she really like Salvo, or has she other less worthy motives ? Could she be working for Mr Z, and I even thought could she herself be Mr Z ?

The story now unfolds, and Fazio realises his colleague is having an affair with a possible suspect, but says nothing. Angelica visits Montalbano's house, they dine together at Enzos, they apparently have a lot in common and Salvo visits Angelica's and stays the night. Angelica is very open with Salvo about her love nest apartment and admits she has researched Montalbano and feigned the common interests. But still Montalbano is infatuated. For him, Algelica's smile lights up the room. After they sleep together, Montalbano thinks himself cured of his overpowering intoxication - she is just a woman, not the goddess of his adolescent dreams.

Yes, Angelica is obviously stringing Montalbano along. And so the story unfolds. The robbers are ambushed by the police, and one is killed in an a exchange of fire. After another robbery which doesn't follow the same pattern, another of the names on the friends list, the loan shark, kills himself after receiving a threatening phone call. Montalbano thinks all the other robberies were just to cause police confusion and hide the one real target for Mr Z ? What was this, what was in the victim's safe ? I will let you read the story for yourself, discover the author's skill with misdirection, and appreciate the climax and a complete explanation of all that has happened. Angelica had been shot, and was lying in hospital. We are back to Angelica and Salvo. Her smile still lights up the room, Fazio takes over, Montalbano closes his eyes and runs out of the room. Angelica never betrayed Montalbano for sleeping with him. Could a beauty half his age really have had feelings for Montalbano ?

A smashing, clever, gem of a story !

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I read this book in March, 2022.

This is book 18 in the Sicily set Inspector Montalbano series. Although we probably associate Sicily with the mafia, mostly these stories deal with other things - any mention is only as a background presence. This story is different. I liked the first 80% of this story, was disappointed with the next 10% (when Montalbano explains what the story is about to Fazio and us), but liked the final 10% when the author shows his skill and ingenuity.

Once again we say hello to Vigata and the Montalbano cast - Inspector Salvo Montalbano, his absent, long term girfriend Livia, and his housekeeper / fantastic cook Adelina. Salvo's colleagues include Deputy Inspector Mimi Augello, Inspector Fazio, and officers Gallo and Catarella, an idiot with some occasionally useful skills. Everyone has to answer to the police commissioner Bonetti-Alderighi, and grumpy Dr Pasquano does the forensics. Salvo's friend Nicolo Zito runs a helpful TV station, but the Rangonese owned TV-Vigata seems determined to destroy Montalbano.

The book opens as usual with Montalbano having a strange dream. Next we meet the Lombardos, Adriano (45) and his very beautiful wife Liliana (35). Strangely, they lead very separate lives. They have just moved into a previously empty neighbouring property. Adriano is the local agent for Star Computers, and Liliana works in a shop. Driving to work one morning, Salvo sees Liliana struggling to get her car started, stops to help, and gives her a lift to the local garage. The mechanics there discover that Liliana's car engine was deliberately damaged. Plot one is who did this, why, and why is Liliana being less than honest with Montalbano. Why too does she later try to seduce Salvo - an act almost captured by the antagonistic TV-Vigaga crew, but neatly anticipated by Salvo and Fazio. When Salvo finally gets to the police station we learn of plot two. Someone has exploded a bomb outside an empty warehouse. Mimi thinks it's a typical mafia extortion ploy, but Fazio says why bomb the outside of an empty building and cause only minimal damage. Salvo notices the blast was near the entrance to flats at 26, Via Pisacane - could someone living there be the true target? Fazio discovers that the tenants include an illegal drugs VIP Carlo Nicotra, and two petty criminals one of whom, Tallarito worked for Nicotra. Tallarito is currently back in jail, but his mother still lives there, and his son Arturo.

Two separate plots - could they be related. And so the story takes off. Liliana seems to want her name linked with Inspector Montalbano for self protection. She has a secret lover - Tallarito's son Arturo. Someone shot at Montalbano's car when Liliana was a passenger - was she the real target, and why ? Why is her husband indifferent to Liliana's affairs - indeed where is her husband. Soon there is another explosion outside another empty warehouse. Also Arturo and Liliana go missing. It is all a great puzzle - a deliberate confusion like a "game of mirrors".

I thought the story was developing well as a great puzzle for us to solve. Why were so many strange things happening ? What was going on ? And then I felt somewhat cheated when, instead of having to work it out, we were blandly given the answer. Montalbano suddenly realised what was behind it all, and told Inspector Fazio (and us) in a couple of paragraphs. I did like the ending though, when Salvo got himself interviewed by Zito and gave the clear impression that the police were unaware of any drug connection - and thus set up a clever trap climax.

I smiled at Adelina encouraging Liliana to have an affair with Salvo. Adelina does not like Livia ! A lot Salvo's routine is familiar. We get enthusiastic descriptions of various meals, Salvo visits Enzo's and then walks to the end of the pier to aid digestion, and sits on his thinking rock. The commissioner summons Montalbano to discipline him, Montabano is suspended, he takes umbridge and storms out - but then returns to berate his accusers. He has a 100% alibi, and they should have known this.

All in all, a good enough story, apart from the abrupt plot reveal.

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I read this book in July, 2022.

This is book 19 in the Inspector Salvo Montalbano series, and we meet again, Livia, Salvo's long standing girlfriend, and Fazio and Mimi Augello, Salvo's colleagues, and of course the comic fool, Catarella - but no fool where computers are involved. As usual, Salvo eulogises over meals prepared by his housekeeper Adelina, or eaten at Enzo's Trattoria - to work off which he wanders to the lighthouse to sit on his rock, and talk to a crab that often joins him there.

The story opens, a many Montalbano tales do, with a Salvo dream that he takes as a premonition. Several times true life seems to be following this dream, but then diverges. But, in an unexpected climax, the dream does come true with the finding of a body in a coffin. It's not the commissioner of Salvo's dream, but someone else Salvo knows. It's a terrific conclusion to this book's private lives story.

I read this book in November, 2022.

This is book 20 in the Inspector Salvo Montalbano series set in Vigata, Sicily - where the two mafia families, the Caffaros, and the Sinagras, have fingers in every pie, and control corrupt politicians. This is a typical Montalbano story, and somehow Montalbano manages to survive but only by resorting to "illegal" techniques. The title "The Voice in the Night" is Salvo's conscience talking to him. However, there is no other way. Let's name check the main characters and then outline the two plots. Montalbano was born in 1950, and the book opens with the inspector upset that everyone wants to celebrate his 58th birthday. His girlfriend is Livia - they still cannot speak to each other without starting an argument. The police colleagues are Officers Gallo, Catarella, Fazio (an able detective) and inspector Mimi Augello. Enzo, the restauranteur and Adelina , Salvo's cook and housekeeper ensure that Salvo is well fed. Dr Pasquaro does Forensics, and Tommaseo is the prosecutor. There are two TV journalists - Pippo Ranganese of Tele Vigata which is corrupt and is fed misinformation by the mafia constantly attacking Montalbano. Nicolo Zito of Free Channel TV is Salvo's friend.

There are two main plots - the Strangio one, and the Borsolino one. A very young man in a BMW, Giovanni Strangio, is upset at Montalbano's slow driving, but eventually screeches past. They meet again at the filling station where Salvo blocks Strangio in, to teach him a lesson. Strangio smashes Salvo's side window, but freezes when he sees a gun pointed at him. Caffaro arrests him, and takes him away. Later we learn that Strangio's dad is Dr Michael Strangio, president of the region. A high powered lawyer , Nero Duello arrives to have Strangio released, but he annoys Montalbano, and is sent packing. Much later, Strangio calls at the police station to report a murder - that of his girlfriend Mariengela at their apartment. He claimed he had returned from a business trip to Rome, and found her naked body in the bedroom, the victim of a frenzied knife attack to her breasts and vagina. It seems Strangio has a mistress in Rome and Mariengela also entertained a man when Strangio was away - a distinguished older man. Read the book to see who this was.

The second story starts when Borsolino, the manager of a nearby supermarket (the supermarket is known to be a front for the Caffaro mafia family) reports a robbery. There were high takings - this was the one day they were not banked but locked in Borsolino's office drawer. Someone knew that the money was there, and had copy keys. Of course the police are suspicious. It seems one of the mafia family stole the money, but the mafia want this hidden and have set up Borsolino, who is soon found dead, killed by hanging. Dr Paquaro tells tells Montalbano it was murder, not suicide, but he won't put this in his official report. You have to watch what you say where the mafia are involved. Mangihello, the president of the supermarket chain, is mafia. Fed a script by the mafia, Ranganese attacks Montalbano for practically hanging Borsolino and hounding him to his death.

Two important pople are now gunning for Montalbano, Dr Strangio, the regions President, and Mangibello of the mafia. They also blame the police commissioner, who expects to be dismissed along with Montalbano. He tells Montalbano we are in this together, but Montalbano knows he will be the one who is pushed overboard.

The stories now get complicated. Borsolino had a digital MP3 recorder, and had recorded 4 important conversations. Montalbano loses the recorder, but rushes to his dry cleaner and recovers it in time. He then sends it anonymously to Zito, for him to broadcast one of the conversations. A lot is happening, including two murders - it seems a lot of fuss over one supermarket robbery. There must be more to the story, and of course there is.

Salvo disguises his voice, and makes two voicemail phone calls saying he, the blackmailer, has Mariengela's blood stained bathrobe with the murderer's DNA, and he knows that Borsolino was killed. Salvo then tells all to the head of the anti-terrorist police squad, including and admitting his illegal blackmail. Do read the story, to see how it all turns out.

All in all, another successful outing for Inspector Montalbano.

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I read this book in January, 2023.

This is book 21 in Andrea Camilleri's Inspector Salvo Montalbano series. We are back in Vigata, Sicily. I think this is probably quite a short Montalbano story, but I can't tell as the book I bought in some charity shop was a large print version. The story is 281 pages of large print. I thought it was quite a good, typical Montalbano story but I solved the final mystery (as will most readers ) way before it occurred to Montalbano. Oscar Wilde was referring to homosexuality when he wrote of "a crime that dare not speak it's name". There are other crimes that can be similarly described.

I will briefly introduce the main characters, and then say something about the plot. Inspector Salvo Montalbano is 58, and of course is still with his long distance girlfriend Livia. She does not get on with Adelina, Salvo's housekeeper and excellent cook. Livia visits him for a few days, looking slim, and a lot younger - she has been to the gym. As usual, Salvo and Livia waste a lot of time quarrelling. Montalbano's colleagues are Catarella, Fazio, Gallo, and inspector Mimi Augello. Mimi is married to Beba, and they have a young son, called Salvo after the inspector. Dr Pasquaro is the ill tempered Forensics specialist. Salvo enjoys wonderful meals at Enzo's Trattoria then walks along the pier to digest his gluttony. Tommaseo is the prosecutor who has no luck with women, but constantly lusts after them.

The crime to be solved is the murder of Cosimo Barletta, a very rich businessman. Cosimo's wife died some 5 years ago in an accident at sea, but we later discover it was suicide. Cosimo has a son Arturo, married to Michaella, and a daughter Giovanna, married to Carlo. Cosimo objected to both marriages. Cosimo had been shot through the head at close quarters, but later Dr Pasquaro says that he was already dead. Someone had poisoned him, he was paralysed, died, and then was shot. So we have the man who was "killed" twice within a few hours. As the story unfolds we discover that Barletta had been a horrible corrupt man and a loan shark. He was unscrupulous in his business dealings, and made many enemies. He had a liking for young women in their late teens, early twenties. He would shower them with lavish gifts and money, get them to engage in depraved sex acts - and unknown to them he would take secret photos for his own pleasure, and also to blackmail his young victims. So a business man, or a loan shark victim might be the killer(s). Both his children feared he would lose his head over some young woman, change his will, and leave everything to her. There is also a suspect closer to home in Arturo. He has got himself into debt with other loan sharks, and has now lost his job. He asked Cosimo for help - but his father laughed and turned him away. Apparently Cosimo had told his children that he had made a will leaving the major part of his estate to Giovanna as she had given him grandchildren. We will later discover the significance of this. Arturo was furious, but apparently got over it. The will cannot be found - presumably favouring Arturo who will now get half the estate. Giovanna is beautiful, but scheming. She flirts with Salvo, who plays along to see what Giovanna wants - apparently information and to implicate Arturo in Cosimo's murder. If he is sent to jail, she will inherit everything. Indeed, what a "nest of vipers" !

Searches of Cosimo's apartments uncover several things. Firstly there are about 20 envelopes with girls' names on them, each holding implicit nude and worse photos. Can the girls be indentified - did one of them sleep with Cosimo and then poison him ? Three 3 blond hairs had been found in Cosimo's bed. Then Mimi Augello finds two caches of old letters in secret compartments in Cosimo's desk. A separate batch of 6 letters are all from the same person and cover a love affair going back over some ten years. This unknown woman got pregnant. How old was she when first bedded by Cosimo - was she a child ? Was she perhaps the daughter of one of his old friends - and who amongst them has a daughter ? And so, the story unfolds ........

Before concluding I should mention a sub plot involving a hermit who lives in a nearby cave. Salvo rushes home in a deluge, and finds a tramp sheltering on his verandah. The tramp makes to run off, but Salvo tells him to stay until the rain goes off. He also gives him a coffee, and the use of his shower - both gratefully accepted. But the tramp refuses money. Later, during her visit, Livia becomes fascinated by this hermit, and visits him in his cave. He is a cultured man, and is called Mario. He has been in the cave for 6 months. Mario will disclose no more, but is very interested in Montalbano. Why are we being told about this hermit ? Surprisingly he has information about Barletta from 5 years ago.

Salvo will do his duty as a professional policeman, and will find the culprits, but it's one of those cases where Salvo thinks whoever did it had some justification. They did some good in getting rid of such an evil man. Salvo and crew soon discover who shot Cosimo, but who poisoned him remains a mystery until the shocking climax - and as I mentioned it will be not such a shock, nor surprise to most readers. That said though, it's still a good story.

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I read this book in February, 2024.

This is book 22 in Andrea Camilleri's ongong Inspector Montalbano series - set in Vigata, Sicily, mafia country. It's a typical Montalbano outing, but this time he seems to be taking on the combined Caffaro and Sinagra mafia families. I'll continue under three headings Characters, Personal Lives and Main Plots.

Characters : Inspector Salvo Montalbano lives in Marinella, Vigata, Sicily. Adelina cleans and cooks for him. Enzo cooks for him at his favourite trattoria. Livia is Salvo's absent girlfriend - she lives in Broccadisse, Italy but phones regularly. Montalbano's police team include DI Mimi Augello, a womaniser, DI Fazio, and DC's Gallo, and the idiot Catarella who worships Montalbano. Dr Pasquaro is the forensics expert, Tommaseo is the public prosecutor, with Jannacone his assistant. Tano Gambardella is a qualified lawyer, now a journalist who works for Salvo's friend Nicolo Zito of the Free Press. He has an informer for a corruption case - Salvanio Piscopo, a brick layer. Pippo Ranganese is a reporter who works for the rival Tele Vigata, and is constantly attacking Montalbano. Gerlando Nicotra, the murder victim worked for Rosaspina as accountant. Inge Schneider was his girlfriend. She has gone missing. Potrineldra is the giant son of the old lady who runs an illegal cafe near the Rosaspina building site. Finally Rosales is an intelligent, imaginative utterly unscrupulous crook who invaded mafia Caffaro and Sinagra territory, was brought down by them, but later had a bright idea, and went into business with them.

Personal Lives : Salvo's girlfriend Livia is in a bad way, suffering from depression following the death of Francis, their almost adopted son. She forgets things, has taken long term leave of absence from work, doesn't want to do anything, and stays in all day, only going out for occasional necessities. Salvo is very worried - and wants to get away to Broccadisse to look after her. Montalbano seems to have lost his sparkle in sympathy - it seems it's a poor copy of Montalbano that is working through routine. He decides to give it one more day, and then perhaps hand over to Mimi Augello. Luckily, Livia starts to recover. A little stray dog followed her home, and she has taken it in and called it Selene. She has to take the dog out for exercise, and soon is staying out for 4 hours. When Salvo phones, she is full of stories about Selene. Salvo is delighted that he seems to be getting the old Livia back again. At the very end of the story , when the case is solved, Salvo does indeed hand over to Mimi, buys dog treats for Selene, and flies off to be reunited with Livia. She is overjoyed to see him - everything is back to normal.

Main Plots: In essence, this is a story of six separate companies controlled by the Caffaro and Sinagra mafia families, which between them get all the government contracts for public works, but cut corners, use sub standard materials, the buildings fail, but someone else is always blamed.

The story starts gently. It's been raining for days - mud everywhere. Maigret has been dreaming of being in a collapsing tunnel with a stabbed man. Sure enough, he wakes to a phone call. There has been a murder on a building site constructing a new water main. Montalbano visits the site. The victim is in his underpants, and had been stabbed in the back. Montalbano visits a nearby unregistered cafe run by an old lady and her giant son. From his description she identifies the victim as Nicotra, her 34 year old near neighbour. He has a young German wife Inge. He worked as accountant for Rosaspina, the company which was building the new water main. To speed things up, Montalbano breaks into Nicotra's house, and finds that they had a guest living there - an old man.

Montalbano gets a phone call from a brave investigative journalist Gambardella who is investigating another dodgy contruction company - like Rosaspina, another of the six mentioned above. His informant has just been shot but not killed, and is in hospital. The Public prosecutor Jannacone will not authorise a 24 hour police guard for the informant, so Montalbano and Augello will do it unofficially.

There is a further attempt on the informant's life, but foiled by Montalbano standing guard. Montalbano is punched in the face, and coshed on the back of his head. The attempted assassin escapes. Later the informant has to flee the town - his family had been threatened by the mafia. Gambardella too has been threatened, and he has sent his family away for safety.

All this is familiar territory for Montalbano. Commonly mafia killings are explained as seduction cases - and a vengeful, wronged husband. Hence it's suggested that Nicotra's wife Inge had been unfaithful, he caught her with her lover, but ended up shot in the ensuing fight. Various lawyers visit Montalbano. One even turns up with a former boyfriend of Inge who now falsely confesses to the Nicotra murder, but pleads self defence. It's like a predictable play, and Montalbano responds with a straight bat. There is a garage next to Nicotra's house, which Inge had built about six months ago - about the time the old man / her "uncle" came to stay. Montalbano searches the garage, and finds a hidden, secret basement which contains a huge, open but empty safe. Forensics confirm that the safe probably held millions of euro notes. "What a brillint idea / money laundering scheme", thinks Montalbano - six corrupt mafia companies, each employing illegal workers, and all workers being paid cash in hand.

I'll now leave you to read the story, and see how Montalbano overcomes official wariness to tackle mafia corruption. As he is working unofficially, Montabano tells Favio and Augello to keep out of it, but to their credit they refuse. "Of course, we will come with you."

The old man / Inge's "uncle" turns out to be a very clever crook called Rosales who seems to have united with the Caffaros and Sinagras in a sort of three part joint venture. Read the story to find out how that worked out - but remember, there is no honour / little trust amongst thieves!

Overall, a typical, well constructed Montalbano adventure, with Catarella as stupid as ever, and Enzo and Adelina keeping Montalbano's gourmet tastes satisfied.

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I read this book in April, 2024.

This is book 23 in the ongoing adventures of Inspector Montalbano written by Andrea Camilleri. It's set in Vigata, Sicily, mafia country. It's a good multi plot story but of course these apparently separate plots turn out to be related, as is standard practice in detective fiction. I'll continue under three headings Characters, Personal Lives and Main Plots.

Characters : Our hero is DCI Salvo Montalbano, in charge of Vigata police. His police colleagues are DI Mimi Augello, Gallo, Fazio, and "idiot" Catarella who never gets a name right, but worships Montalbano. Salvo's long standing, long distance girlfriend is still Livia, and his cook and housekeeper Adelina. His favourite restaurant is still Enzo's Trattoria.

Dr Pasquano is the coroner, Tommaseo the public prosecutor, and Bonetti Alterighi the police commissioner. Nicola Zito, Salvo's reporter friend, is editor of Free Channel News Department.

New characters include :
Marcello Di Carlo, (32) electronics shop owner, always in debt.
Giorgio Bonfiglio, (62) Marcello's friend.
Silvana Romano (36), Giorgio's former girlfriend, now with Marcello.
Alfredo Virduzzo(64), Silvana's "guardian," and relative

The three kidnap victims who are all bank employees are :
Michaela Racco, Enzo's niece
Manuela Merca
Luigia Jacona (38), daughter of Carlo Jacona (77), confused and confined to a wheelchair.

Personal Lives : Salvo's long distance relationship with Livia continues. They chat most days over the phone, but the constant quarrelling of former days now seems behind them. Salvo often discusses his cases with Livia, and sometimes unknowingly, something she says provokes new lines of enquiry. Salvo is aware that he and Adelina are growing older - both have wrinkles and white / grey hair. His age is quite an obsession with Salvo, he no longer goes swimming in the bay, and he wonders if he can still do his high pressure police job. His friends and colleagues avoid references to his age, but his enemies goad him with it and his occasional forgetfulness.

Happily Salvo's love of good food has not been impaired, and we hear of the excellent, usually sea food dishes that Adelina cooks for him at home, and the similar ones scoffed at Enzo's.

Main Plots: There are several plots which I can list separately, but as I mentioned before, they all turn out to be related :-
The Silvana and Virduzzo back story.
The overnight kidnappings.
The fire at Di Carlo's and his subsequent disappearance.

I'll start by mentioning Camilleri's usual opening chapter, then cover the Silvana / Virduzzo set up, and then just let the other two plots unfold as per the author.

Usually Montalbano books open with one of Salvo's dreams that often foretell what will happen in the story. Here, however, Salvo can't get to sleep for a pesky fly crawing over his face. He gives himself a black eye trying to swat it, and so gets up early, sees the fly and kills it. A couple of minutes later, the fly is back. It's obviously a different fly, but Salvo worries that he has made a mistake and killed the wrong fly. And so, in the story, Salvo does make a mistake - he has chosen the wrong killer suspect. The point of getting Salvo up early, is that, out on his verandah, he sees two men fighting on the sand, goes to intervene, ends up in a tangle with them, and is arrested by the Carbinieri and taken away. Thus, when Adelina arrives at Salvo's, she finds the doors wide open, and the place deserted. When a man wanders in to speak to Salvo, Adelina mistakes him for a burglar, and hits him in the head with her frying pan. He is out cold, but coming to when Salvo gets back. We later learn the man's name is Alfredo Virduzzo. Salvo phones for Gallo who takes Virduzzo to A & E. We then get days and days of postponed Salvo / Virduzzo meetings, either something urgent turns up for Salvo, or Virduzzo has a bad headache. This becomes something of a running joke. When, a lot, lot later, Salvo asks Virduzzo why he didn't tell him something sooner, Virduzzo has the perfect answer - "I've been trying to meet you for ages !"

Alfredo Virduzzo is a successful wealthy business man who took in a 15 year old girl, Silvana Romano, a distant relative, on the death of her parents. He regarded her as his daughter, spoiled her, but acted more as her boss, her owner, and became very possessive. Of course, as she grew older, she started to rebel and exert her independence. When 36, and to spite Virduzzo, she started going out with an older man - Giorgio Bonfiglio, 62 years old, and only 2 years younger than Virduzzo. Jumping ahead, the situation soon becomes complicated. She had already persuaded Virduzzo to set her up in her own apartment, and now, saying she needed to get away, persuaded him to pay for her 2 month long trip to the Canaries. There she meets Marcello Di Carlo, and they fall in love. She is stringing along both her Vigata boyfriend Bonfigio, and Virduzzo - and no good comes of this.

The other plots open slowly. Fazio tells Salvo a strange story - someone has kidnapped a young woman, but released her unmolested, with nothing stolen, in the countryside. Salvo will interview her - Manuela Smerca. At Enzo's, Salvo hears a similar story - the same has happened to Enzo's niece, Michaela Racco. Salvo will interview her too. Both women stopped to help at a broken down car, were overcome by a chloroform pad, and woke later in the countryside. Each woman works in a bank. They cannot describe the assailant, just that he is an older man. There is third kidnapping, Luigia Jacona, but the kidnapping has got more serious. Luigia was stripped naked and has multiple pin prick knife wounds all over her body. Salvo gets his reporter friend Nicola Zito to intervieww him on TV, warns young women, and appeals for help. When word gets round that Luigia also worked in a bank, it's all taken as campaign against banks. Accounts are being closed, and female employees are reluctant to come in to work. The police commisioner gets involved and pressurises Salvo to get it sorted and soon.

It's also Fazio who calls Salvo to a suspicious fire in the apartment owned by a Marcello Di Carlo over his electronics shop. The door is open, but the flat has obviously not been occupied for some time. The shop manager says Marcello had refused to pay extra mafia protection money. Marcello, a serial borrower, had borrowed more money from his best friend Giorgio Bonfiglio, treated himself to a holiday in the Canaries, and there met and fallen in love with some girl. Reportedly Marcello is back in Vigata, but cannot be contacted. So it's a fire, and a disappearance - an apparent typical mafia hit, but Salvo is not so sure. Fazio thinks it may be an insurance scam - Marcello's business had not been doing well.

The separate police kidnapping and fire / disappearance investigations swing into action with multiple interviews. Marcello had previously gone out with Lugia Jacona, the third kidnapping victim, but dropped her when he fell in love with someone else. He had also phoned his friend Bonfigio from the Canaries, but wouldn't name his new girlfriend. Bonfigio thinks this might be because it's someone he knows. Of course he knows her, it's his girlfriend Silvana. There are two more killings, a lot more than I've mentioned, and Salvo has arrested the wrong suspect. It's all solved eventually - and it all makes sense.

However, I've now said more than enough - I do try to avoid writing spoilers. In brief, it's a good story which I enjoyed reading. Do read the story for yourselves.

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I read this book in December, 2022.

This is book 22 in Andrea Camilleri's Sicily set Inspector Salvo Montalbano series, and so it's a return to Vigata to meet Montalbano and his police colleagues, Fazio, Mimi Augello, Gallo, Sgn. Genuardi and of course the devoted Caterella. Adelina is still Salvo's housekeeper and cook, and luckily she has taught him how to prepare some of her dishes - luckily because Montalbano becomes cook on the sailing vessel the Halcyon. Livia is still Salvo's girlfriend, but as usual, their relationship involves continual arguments, often about trivial matters. Salvo also dines at Enzo's restaurant. There are two TV channels. Pippo Ranganese of Tele Vigata hates Montalbano, whilst Nico Zito of Free Channel is a good friend. Salvo's good friend Ingrid also appears in the story. Finally Salvo's boss, Commissioner Bonitti- Alberighi who is usually easily outfoxed now seems to have the upper hand and is even outplaying Montalbano.

The book opens with the mass lay off of workers at the Trincinato ship building business. They had offered to work for half pay, but their unscrupulous, uncaring boss Giovanni Trincinato didn't respond and was callous when one of the workers hanged himself, leaving a wife and children destitute. Trincinato only inherited the business by cheating his dying father into signing a fake will. Salvo, attending the ship yard to investigate the worker's death, slaps Trincinato's face, but then immediately shakes his hand, and walks away quickly, leaving Trincinato wondering what had just happened.

Driving back at his usual slow speed, Salvo causes a build up of cars behind him, all struggling to get past. The last in the queue is a chauffeur driven car - it has to swerve right to avoid a crash, and Salvo has to swerve left. Left is safe, right is into a swamp. Since he is stuck, the chauffeur asks Salvo to give his passenger a lift to Vigata . She is the drop dead gorgeous American Joan Crowling, a former Miss Dallas. Salvo lets her off at the home of Giovanni Trincinato whose only interest in life seems to be beautiful women, and gambling. We later meet another beauty, Carmen Lopez (Carmencita) of Spain. She too "works" for Trincinato. There is a mix up when she meets Salvo, and she mistakes him for a powerful crime gang leader - i.e. someone she wants to help and get to know better.

Both girls board a beautiful sailing vessel with minimal crew - the Halcyon. Salvo asks Fazio to investigate this yacht, which lands for 3 hours only, and then sets sail again. What is the Trincinato connection. They discover that the Halycon is a floating unlimited stakes casino for the criminal and super rich. Joan and Carmencita are high class call girls, "hostesses". The Halcyon is to host a secret meeting of world drug barons, but the FBI are on the trail. Their agent is American Sicilian Jack Pennisi.

Pennisi has done his research, knows Montalbano is the best, but also a lone wolf, and concocts a massively complicated ruse to get Montalbano's help, but not to arouse the slightest suspicion. Salvo gets a letter from the Police HR department, saying, as he has a massive backlog of leave due, he must go on 10 days leave immediately. Salvo has to comply, and visits Livia (and has another argument), but fears that the Commissioner will interfere with the Vigata set up in Salvo's absence. How right he is. Most of Salvo's helpers are transferred to Medusa Central, and a new inspector is installed - Viginio Stratquadario.

The story really takes off now. Salvo's out, is selling his house, and is bad mouthing the police for his unfair dismissal. Trincinato is killed, shot, and so too is his bodyguard Fantuzzo. His chauffeur Zaccario appears to be helping the police. Salvo wants to be interviewed by Zito, but the finance police are at the Free Channel, and have all but closed it down. The Commissioner really is playing a splendid game of chess. Salvo hears the new inspector being interviewed by Ranganese, and he likes the sound of the inspector so much that he gets in touch via Fazio to help with clues. Initially Salvo does not like the idea of an FBI agent giving orders in Sicily, but he changes his mind and meets and likes Pennisi. The FBI agent is corrageous beyond words, but his plan to capture the drug barons single handed with an aerosol seems foolhardy. Salvo is challenged to come up with a better plan, and this he does. He and Fazio will board the Halcyon as replacement cooks, and be in situ to help Pennisi. But of course, things do not go to plan. I liked the bit where Caterella was involved, but inevitably got muddled up as to which odd bag of sugar, or odd bag of salt was the powerful sedative.

An extra element is that Montalbano and Fazio are so well disguised that they cannot recognise each other, nor remember their new false names.

I thought the ending was very abrupt. I would have liked an extra chapter e.g. when did Livia find out about the eventual outcome, and how did she react. Were all the people who transferred out of Vigata, transferred back in ? In short, what did happen next ?

All in all, though, another successful outing for Montalbano.

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