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 enlarge | Author: Andrea Camilleri
Creator: Stephen Sartarelli
Publisher: Picador
Category: Book
List Price: £7.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 7562
Media: Paperback
Edition: New edition
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.8
ISBN: 0330492861
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780330492867
ASIN: 0330492861
Publication Date: February 6, 2004
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| Customer Reviews:
 Italian Inspector Rebus? January 5, 2007
10 out of 15 found this review helpful
I like Andrea Camilleri's Inspector Montalbano, he reminds me a lot of Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus, the story unfolds in much the same way. However, I do have my doubts about the translation. I speak not a word of Italian, so unfortunately, I can't go back to the original, but some of the sentences in this translation are so awkward and convoluted that I wonder how they appear in Italian. To give an example from the first page, " To Pino Catalane and Saro Montaperto - young land surveyors naturally without employment as land surveyors, but hired by Splendour as temporary "ecological agents" thanks to the generous string-pulling of Chamber Deputy Cusumano, in whose electoral campaign the two had fought body and soul (and in that order, with the body doing far more than the soul felt like doing) - the foreman assigned the jobs vacated by Peppe and Caluzzo, that is, the sector that went by the name of the "Pasture", because in a time now beyond memory a goatherd had apparently let his goats roam there." However, don't let this put you off as the underlying story is amusing and entertaining.
Very Italian police novel September 14, 2006
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
Inspector Montalbano of the police force in the small Sicilian town of Vigata has to investigate the death of Silvio Lupanetto, an engineer and local political hotshot of the reigning christian democratic party. Mr Lupanetto has died of a massive heart attack while having sex, but the place where his body is found is suspicious: why would a cautious man like him go to the local prostitute and drug area? The inspector's investigations give a nice insight into Italian wheeling and dealing: sex schandals, rich people with an attitude, the Mafia, left versus right, corruption and bribing. In short, everything we Europeans suspect Italy to be. Italy is a lot more, but in this novel there are only hints of good food and drinks, a great culture and a lovely countryside.
The book is written in a very fluent style and the story has a number of twists and turns which makes it an enjoyable read. I would say 3 stars, so let's make it 4 because this is the first book of a series and character of the inspector may still grow.
Enter Montalbano May 27, 2006
18 out of 21 found this review helpful
This is the first in Montalbano Series. Camilleri is one of the few writers who has had 5 books in the top 10 in Italy at the same time.
Montalbano is a policeman who lives in Sicily, because he loves the land and its people. Montalbano lives in Vigata, a village that resembles the author's native town of Porto Empedocle, a part of the Montelusa province, another name for Agrigento. So he lives where Pirandello was born and shares some of his "absurd" universe.
In this case he has to investigate the shameful death of an important local politician (don't forget that Operation Clean Hands was taking place at the time when the novel was written). As he investigates, he has to understand and remember that things are not always what they seem. Like water, reality can be shaped to take another meaning. He will know about the politician, his family, his political "friends", the other families...
Justice is hard to come by, and always with toil. The Mafia is always in the background, but without the glamour of the Padrino series: for Camilleri, the Mafia is a disease and has no likable feature.
A good read, if only to understand how politics work.
Another good thing is that even if the publisher advetises it about a novel of crime and food, this is no turist guide but a dive into reality.
 The Shape of Italian Writing October 14, 2004
35 out of 41 found this review helpful
I have read a few Italian murders stories and this was one of the better books. Andrea gives you enough characterisation to know who the characters are without giving you a blow-by-blow account of their upbringing and what shoes they like wearing.The thing I like was there was some political and social points made in the story which were not too heavy but it gave you more of a sense of the social climate in Italy which enhanced the story. There were interesting characters who actually lent weight to the narrative and were not just fleeting characters to bulk out the book. The only real criticism was it did start quite slowly and it took me a long time to really feel the pace on the book was quickening and the story was developing. I do like the sharp Italian wit in the book which gives some of the police characters an almost keystone cop image but alongside that were images of illegal immigration and Italy's view point of this, a point that is very much a current issue in the country. I feel if the pac at the beginning had been more dynamic, the book would have been one of my favourites my I do believe the author has the potential to improve and I look forwar to reading his other books.
Fantastic introduction to Montalbano crime series October 4, 2004
26 out of 29 found this review helpful
Simple excellent. Lives up to the hype and then some more....
A new slant on the crime novel...
If you enjoy top notch crime writing, JL Burke, M.Connelly, W Mosley, from the US angle, here is the Sicilian flavour...
Simply outstanding with laugh out loud moments with good plotting...
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