- Mass Market Paperback: 208 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Paperbacks; Reprint edition (Nov 5 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0142002399
- ISBN-13: 978-0142002391
- Product Dimensions: 17.3 x 9.9 x 2.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 113 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #478,227 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Urbane Sicilian police inspector Salvo Montalbano, whose exploits have sold more than four million copies in Europe, makes his long overdue U.S. debut in this spare and spry English translation of the first novel in the series. When two garbage collectors find the body of local politician Silvio Luparello locked in his BMW with his pants down, in "the Pasture," the Vig…ta town dump frequented by whores and drug dealers, the coroner rules that Luparello died of natural causes, despite clear evidence to the contrary. Montalbano refuses to oblige his superiors who want a hasty close to the case, and it will take a corrupt lawyer's murder to break it open. The author's view of Sicily is the all-too-common one of a poor and backward place that many would like to see separated from the rest of Italy. Camilleri's strength lies in his gallery of eccentric characters: Signora Luparello, the victim's admirably cool widow; GegŠ, a pimp and old classmate of Montalbano's; Giosue Contino, an 82-year-old schoolteacher who shoots at people because he thinks his 80-year-old wife is cheating on him; and Anna Ferrara, Montalbano's attractive deputy, "who every now and then, for whatever reason, would try to seduce him." Even the two garbage men have Ph.D.s. The maverick Montalbano doesn't hesitate to destroy clues or extract money from a crook to help a child, but his wrapping up the case by telling rather than showing, while acceptable to European audiences, may disappoint action-oriented American fans.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
Camilleri's Inspector Montalbano series, making a belated first appearance in the U.S., has long been a staple of both Italian and German best-seller lists. It's easy to see why: Camilleri captures that special blend of lethargy, cynicism, and reluctant commitment that drives the best fictional Italian cops (e.g., Michael Dibdin's Aurelio Zen). Salvo Montalbano, police inspector in the small Sicilian town of Vigata, has a potentially explosive case on his plate: a local politician has been found dead in his car, apparently the victim of a heart attack. The position of the politician's pants (around his ankles) and the location of the car (parked in an abandoned field where prostitutes ply their trade) suggest that the victim may have died in flagrante delicto. Higher-ups want the embarrassing case closed quickly, but Montalbano smells a setup. Unlike many European cops dealing with the horrors of modernity, Montalbano is no melancholic brooder; rather, he puts a comic face on the noir world, sorting through multiple layers of corruption Sicilian style while still finding time to enjoy a good lunch. Keep the translations coming--and quickly. Bill Ott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Camilleri e' bravissimo,
By joco poco (Italia, Coppito) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Shape Of Water (Mass Market Paperback)
Non dovreste mancare di leggerlo, tanto poi stimola la diuresi ed alza la colesterolemia
4.0 out of 5 stars
The REAL Sicily,
By Caro (UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Shape Of Water (Mass Market Paperback)
Recently had to read this book for uni, found it one of the very few Italian detective novels that portrayed an accurate view of Sicily, using fictional names for real places, real politics and real crime. Camilleri is an incredible and unique story teller, especially in this genre, check out the descriptions of the Sicilian dialect on page 6! A real mix of a Marlow type detective and a great police procedural! Down to earth language with a nice humourous element for good measure. Really great read,as are all his other books, and for a change nothing gets lost in translation, its just a shame they're not all translated. But i do believe there's nothing like reading the original text!
2.0 out of 5 stars
Decent read, but why so vulgar?,
By JB (Brookline, Ma, United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Shape Of Water (Mass Market Paperback)
I bought the first three of Camilleri's books, mostly to read on a vacation in Sicily. I'd done the same with Donna Leon's books on a trip to Venice and enjoyed mixing fiction and setting. But I found these books less enjoyable.The stories are in themselves mostly enjoyable, with some particularly clever parts, but all three were quite vulgar, with generous doses of very crude sexual and homosexual banter. It seemed so contrived and stereotypically alpha-male macho, and did not add to the story or the characters. I can accept that a certain amount of this kind of thing might find it's way into stories involving pimps, prostitutes, murders, mafioso, and the like, but it just didn't add to the story at all, and seemed more out of place in otherwise well written story. Is this here to titilate us? Spare me, please. I did go ahead and read all three, so it wasn't enough to stop me from reading what I'd brought along, but I won't buy any more.
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