The Paper Moon [Paperback]

Inspector Montalbano wakes this time not by his inner alarm clock but from one he now sets each night to wake him prompt each morning. His usual slapstick routine of starting the day had fallen by the wayside, irrelevant random thoughts had been plaguing his mind, with a touch of forgetfulness, tiredness and that feeling of age had suddenly creep upon him.

Within ten minutes of being at the station Montalbano is confronted by Signorina. Michela Pardo who cannot locate her brother Angelo, he may have been forty-two but had been missing for some forty eight hours and would always call when away. After a few questions and being won over by Michela's deep, violet lake eyes he was willing to check out her brother's apartment. Montalbano stumbles into a gruesome situation on Angelo's terrace, a man shot at point blank range in the face presented in a rather lewd position.

As things begin to unfold Angelo Pardo the victim was certainly appearing to be no saint. A former doctor struck off the Medical Association ten years earlier after indecent relations with a female patient. Montalbano also had suspicions and doubts about Angelo's job as a medical/pharmaceutical `Informer' and the wealth that seemed to go with it, not only was he lacking a bank account, the money had instead been spent on lavish expensive gifts for his mistress. Then there was Angelo's computer, three files protected by passwords and within secret codes were used! What for? Threatening letters had been found but a strongbox Angelo kept was missing. Montalbano sized up possible motives female entanglements or shady influence in the medical profession with plenty of suspects past and present to go with both, or was it something else? While Montalbano's faithful team cracked codes and follow all other leads including a political one, Montalbano on the other hand was looking for trouble and decided his line of enquiry, presence was best felt with the ladies.

Andrea Camilleri has done wonders with the character Inspector Salvo Montalbano over the years, always in hot water with female trouble, his moods dark, aging but not lacking in sophistication and charm it just melts right off the pages. In this book Montalbano wits become changellened against the leading ladies Michela Pardo and Elena Sclafani but its Montalbano inner thoughts about these two which adds to the comedy. His team follow him as he leadeth them into temptation; always using his unorthodox route to get an answer, meanwhile the description of a chaotic police station always cracks me with a smile. The whole series has a timeless feel, for any thinking of starting to read they clearly deserve to be read from the beginning.

Camilleri has written a wonderful Montalbano Mystery series, this book is the ninth in the series and again he doesn't disappoint. All Montalbano mysteries start in comedy but end in horror or melodrama but its all done with lots of human interest in every plot. This novel I found to start slower than others but it soon picked up pace and again the ending was a gem with its darker twists. What I love about this whole series would be the characterisation and language the usage of dialogue in conversation, directness, it's all been kept real with sharp dry wit and ironic comedy moments, the sly comments on Italian life and culture keeps things amusing and interesting. A big also for me is the passion for great flavoured foods, all the dishes in these books are mouth-watering and endless, described so vividly you can almost taste them.

This is also where I bring in my special thank you to poet Stephen Sartarelli who has translated each book smoothly and clearly managing to keep its humour throughout and for the informative notes given at the back on wording, I would also say notes are always advised to be read before reading the novels.

Another thoroughly enjoyable read in the series.

Andrea Bowhill

Andrea Camilleri's Inspector Montalbano mystery series is one of life's great pleasures. Wonderful, witty writing. Humanity and terrible inhumanity juxtaposed. Complex characters with meat on their bones and, sometimes, evil (or larceny, lust, hate or greed) in their hearts. "The Paper Moon" has all of these winning qualities plus a terrific, multi-layered and serpentine plot.

In "The Paper Moon," The indefatigable Inspector Salvo Montalbano faces a trio of formidable female antagonists while sorting out a murder with erotic trappings, and he doesn't have a solution until the last few pages of the novel. And this, for me, is one of the most enjoyable things about Camilleri's stories--the complexity of their plots rarely gives away the ending before it is actually reached. The setting for the book being Sicily, there is always a whiff of the Mafia in the story's telling, but the author never resorts to the obvious in bringing it to a close.

A perennial bonus look at Sicily and Sicilian society is part and parcel of "The Paper Moon" as well.
This is one of Camilleri's most enjoyable stories to date. Highly recommended.

"The Paper Moon" by Andrea Camilleri.
Translated by Stephen Sartarelli. Penguin Books, 2008.

I thought I had him. I have enjoyed the "Inspector Montalbano Series" by Andrea Camilleri and I thought that I had figured out this book. The plot was straight forward, (or so I thought).
It had to be organized crime taking vengeance on the dead man, Angelo Pardo; we would discover the reason as the book progressed. The two beautiful young ladies were just thrown in to build up the emphasis on the sexual innuendo of the murder. But, what beauties they are! In other Inspector Montalbano mysteries, Andrea Camilleri has emphasized Italian cooking, so much so that it is impossible to read his novels without becoming hungry. In "The Paper Moon", he describes the physical attributes of the two ladies with the same skill in writing. The ladies, however, appear to be the main suspects. Page by page the author builds up the case against first one woman and than against the other and then both as a team! I was certain I knew which woman was the murderess. I will not spoil the book by telling you whether or not I was right or wrong.

In most of his books, the author uses the character of Catarella as comic relief. On page 211, Catarella comes across as true person. He is working on a set of three computer files, trying to determine a pass word, (Catarella's malapropism is "past word"), which would permit Inspector Montalbano to ascertain where Angelo Pardo's money was coming from and where the money went. All of a sudden, the computer screen goes blank and the three files disappear. Catarella screams, "Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh"! Catarella sees all the work and hours going down into the black face of the monitor.

Once, I was on an engineering team, performing a reliability assessment of the computers at Malaysia Liquefied Natural Gas. The electrical power in the town in Malaysia was always going off. My fellow engineer was just about to save all his work when the lights dimmed and went out. He screamed, "Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh", just like Catarella. Unlike Catarella, my fellow engineer stood up, yelled "F----" and punched the computer monitor on the side of the cabinet. So, Andrea Camilleri has captured a vignette that rings true to life ... and, by the way, made me want to read more of his analyses of life in a police setting.

As usual, in the Inspector Montalbano mysteries, the reader does not get a hint at the origin of the title until late in the book. Also as usual, Stephen Sartarelli has done an excellent and engaging job of translating from the Italian.