The Dance of the Seagull

An Inspector Montalbano Mystery by Andrea Camilleri

A seagull fills Montalbano with a sense of 
foreboding at the start of compelling story

Inspector Montalbano is left with a strange sense of foreboding when he sees a seagull die on the beach in front of the terrace of his villa, after the bird had performed a strange spinning motion with one wing open, inscribing a circle.

Afterwards he goes to the airport to meet his girlfriend, Livia, who has flown to Sicily from her home town of Genoa to spend some quiet time with him. Montalbano has booked some leave from work so that they can visit some of the island’s Baroque cities that Livia has never seen.

He leaves Livia at his home to go into the police station to finish off some routine work before starting his holiday. While he is in his office, the wife of Fazio, one of his officers, comes in to see him to say she is worried about her husband, who is missing and hasn’t contacted her as he usually does when he has to work all night.

The circumstances are worrying and Montalbano feels he has to look into it straight away. He visits the port with his deputy, Mimi Augello, because the night before, Fazio had told his wife he was going there to meet Montalbano.

A customs officer tells them that the previous night he heard shots while on duty.  Montalbano thinks Fazio may have gone to investigate something at the port on his own and he becomes worried. He is very fond of Fazio and therefore the Inspector becomes totally focused on the investigation, realising that the longer Fazio is missing, the more chance there is that he is dead.

The Dance of the Seagull is the 
15th Montalbano mystery

A tip off from a criminal, who says he has seen a badly injured Fazio with two other men in a remote area of the island, leads them to investigate a place where there are dry wells, into which the Mafia sometimes throw the bodies of their victims. Montalbano deploys firemen to search the wells and they find the bodies of two men, but neither of them is Fazio.

Montalbano has a chilling feeling the Mafia are involved in Fazio’s disappearance and becomes desperate to find the injured officer alive before it is too late. He works night and day on the investigation, hardly stopping to eat or rest.

He looks into everyone who has tried to contact Fazio through the police switchboard recently and finally begins to piece things together.

But then his troubles really begin, when he realises that he has left Livia waiting alone at his villa to start their holiday together…

The Dance of the Seagull is a compelling story with an intriguing crime at the heart of it that Montalbano must solve in order to find Fazio before it is too late.

As always, the novel provides fascinating insights into life in Sicily and moments that make the reader want to laugh out loud, despite the unrelenting suspense.

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(Picture credit: Seagull by Edgar Gonzalez from Pixabay)

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The Age of Doubt

An Inspector Montalbano Mystery by Andrea Camilleri

The mystery in The Age of Doubt begins with
the crew of a yacht finding a body in a dinghy

A chance encounter with a strange young woman who Inspector Montalbano meets on the way to work one morning prompts him to visit the harbour authorities at Vigàta.

A yacht called the Vanna that the young woman said belonged to her aunt was due to sail in that afternoon but at the harbour he discovers it has been held up out at sea because of stormy weather.

Later in the day, a lieutenant from the harbour office gets in touch with Montalbano to tell him that the people on board the Vanna have called ahead to report that they have encountered a dinghy floating in the sea carrying the dead body of a man.

The crew have taken the dead body, which has a badly disfigured face, on board the yacht and they bring it into the harbour with them. The harbour physician, who Montalbano knows and likes, asks him to come down to look at the body with him. Despite trying to argue that the victim may have died in international waters, Montalbano soon finds himself in charge of a murder investigation.

The Inspector becomes suspicious of the owner of the yacht, a bad tempered middle aged woman, who denies all knowledge of the supposed niece he had met that morning. However, he later realises he has been conned by the strange young woman.

Camilleri's The Age of Doubt is
published by Pan Macmillan 

Montalbano soon finds himself embroiled in a puzzling mystery and at one stage has to sit down and writes a letter to himself to help him understand the various aspects of the case.

Everything is made even more chaotic by Catarella’s inability to understand people on the phone, but Montalbano continues to show remarkable patience with him.

He also has to deal with the Commissioner over a problem with paperwork on his desk that got wet during the stormy weather

Despite his long standing relationship with his girlfriend, Livia, he finds himself becoming dangerously besotted with a beautiful young woman who works at the harbour and he has to risk his own life to help her when events reach their dramatic conclusion.

The Age of Doubt - the 14th in the highly popular series - is a hectic but highly readable Montalbano mystery, laced with plenty of humour, in which as usual Camilleri keeps a few surprises up his sleeve until the end. 

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The Track of Sand

An Inspector Montalbano Mystery by Andrea Camilleri

Montalbano locates the scene of the crime by
following a trail of hoofprints in the sand

Inspector Montalbano finds himself distracted by a beautiful, female equestrian champion and also distraught when events conspire to prevent him enjoying good food, in this 12th book in the series.

The Inspector’s troubles begin when he finds the carcass of a dead horse on the beach in front of his house. When he gets close to it, he is overcome with rage. ‘The beast was all bloodied, its head broken open with some sort of iron bar, its whole body bearing the signs of a long, ferocious beating. There were deep, open wounds, pieces of flesh dangling. It was clear that the horse, battered as it was, had managed to escape and run desperately away until it could go no further.'

Montalbano follows the hoofprints to the spot where the horse had been beaten and discovers from the impressions in the sand that four people had been hitting the horse with iron bars, witnessed by two others, who had stood to one side, smoking.

He calls out his men and sends them to scour the beach for forensic evidence and then rings up City Hall to arrange for the carcass to be taken away. But while he and his men are having coffee in the house, the horse mysteriously vanishes, leaving only a track in the sand.

The Track of Sand is the 12th of
Camilleri's Montalbano novels

Before long, Rachele, a glamorous horsewoman, turns up at police headquarters to report her horse missing. It had been stabled in the grounds of one of the richest men in Sicily, who had lost one of his horses as well.

Even though the case really belongs to officers working in another part of the island, Montalbano can’t resist investigating himself and he vows to track down the people responsible for this atrocity.

But it soon becomes obvious that he has upset someone, as thieves break into his home twice, once to steal a watch and once to put it back.

Coincidentally, Rachele is staying with Montalbano’s attractive Swedish friend, Ingrid, and the two women ask Montalbano to go with them to a fund-raising dinner, which, of course, he dreads. He knows in advance that the food will be awful and finds he is absolutely right. He returns home late at night looking forward to eating olives and anchovies from the fridge with some hard bread and plenty of wine. But he finds his house has been ransacked while he was out.

Montalbano and his officers work hard to unravel the mystery, track down the guilty parties and arrest them.

Then the Inspector races home to set the table on his veranda so he can sit down and enjoy a meal cooked by his housekeeper, Adelina, for himself, Ingrid and Rachele. He intends to savour the food, before explaining everything to them...

I am sure new readers and seasoned Camilleri fans alike will enjoy this 12th serving of Montalbano’s unorthodox investigative methods, melancholy self-reflection, Sicilian humour and perfectly cooked fish, all beautifully translated by Stephen Sartarelli.

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The Wings of the Spinx

An Inspector Montalbano Mystery by Andrea Camilleri

 

Andrea Camilleri's Montalbano stories are
set in southeast Sicily 

Inspector Montalbano is called in to investigate after the naked body of a young woman is found in a rubbish dump on his territory. She has been shot in the face and is unrecognisable, but there is a tattoo of a sphinx moth on her left shoulder.

Montalbano is struggling with his feelings about getting older and anxious that his long distance, but long lasting relationship with his girlfriend, Livia, is in trouble.

But he sets out to try to establish the victim’s identity, with the help of Mimì Augello, his deputy, and his loyal and hard working officer, Fazio.

The inspector soon discovers that there are three other young women in the area with the same tattoo on their left shoulders but they can’t help him identify the dead woman as they are all missing.

When his enquiries lead him to interview a Monsignor, the head of a religious charity, who says they rescued the girls from sex traffickers, the Inspector suddenly smells a huge rat.

But he is hampered in his work when he is hauled up before his boss, the Commissioner, who is angry that his questions have offended the Monsignor.

He is also under time pressure because he has promised to free himself from work to be able to spend some meaningful time with Livia.

It doesn’t help his mood that the weather is so bad the fishermen can’t go out to sea and day after day there is no fresh fish on the menu at Enzo’s Trattoria.

But Montalbano has to keep going, to get justice for the dead girl and to be able to free himself of the case to concentrate on his relationship with Livia.

He has just unmasked the killer and is on the way to the airport to meet Livia when someone else involved in the case is shot in the face.

He has to race against time to tie up the loose ends so he can hand the case over to the chief of the Flying Squad but still get the resolution he wants to achieve. There are many twists and turns and the suspense is maintained until he finally boards a plane to Genoa in his desperate pursuit of Livia to try to save their relationship.

But when he arrives at Livia’s apartment in Boccadasse, a village just outside Genoa, Montalbano gets a big surprise…

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More Montalbano stories reviewed:

August Heat

The Patience of the Spider

Rounding the Mark

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Andrea Camilleri profile and full list of Montalbano titles

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August Heat

An Inspector Montalbano Mystery by Andrea Camilleri

Montalbano has been tasked by his girlfriend, Livia, with finding a villa near his Sicilian home for her and her friends to rent during the August holiday period. He finds it impossible, with all the estate agents laughingly telling him every property was let out ages ago.

Then, by some miracle he is notified of a cancellation. A nice house by the sea with access to the beach has become available only six miles from where he lives.

Montalbano's investigation gives him chance to
 cool off in the sea during the heat of August

But after Livia and her friends, a married couple with a young child, arrive, there is one disaster after another. They have to deal with invasions of cockroaches, rodents and spiders before they can settle down and enjoy their holiday.

After the couple’s young son goes missing, Livia calls in Montalbano to investigate. He discovers the child has fallen down a hole in the garden and accidentally discovered a hidden basement where he is trapped.

After the little boy has been rescued, Montalbano notices an old trunk in the basement and when he opens it, makes a grim discovery.

It is the final straw for the family and they leave with Livia, all blaming the whole fiasco on the hapless Montalbano.

The inspector launches an investigation after his discovery, with the assistance of two of his officers, the diligent Fazio and the comical Catarella.

But he is hampered by the scorching Sicilian weather making it difficult to work and also becomes distracted by his feelings for a beautiful, young blonde girl who is involved in the case.

Montalbano is kept going by taking long swims in the sea and making frequent visits to his favourite trattoria . He also enjoys the wonderful Sicilian delicacies prepared for him by his housekeeper, Adelina, such as pappanozza, boiled onions and potatoes mashed and served cold seasoned with oil, vinegar, salt and pepper and purpiteddri, baby octopus in a sauce of tomatoes and olives.

Using his unorthodox sleuthing tactics and brilliant flashes of intuition he solves the case, achieving a Montalbano style of justice at the end.

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The Paper Moon

An Inspector Montalbano Mystery by Andrea Camilleri

(Sicilian street scene by Tama66 via Pixabay)

Montalbano has to spend time with not one, but two, beautiful women while carrying out a murder investigation and at times finds himself distracted from his duties.

The victim is a pharmaceutical salesman who was shot in the face at point blank range at a moment when his trousers were down.

One of the beautiful women is the dead man’s sister. She calls on Montalbano to investigate her brother’s disappearance and Montalbano finds himself fascinated with her eyes.

He accompanies her to her brother’s apartment and after they fail to find any trace of the missing man he reluctantly gives in to her request to break down the locked door of a small room on his terrace. Inside, Montalbano finds the body of the victim.

When he goes to see the dead man’s mistress, a blue eyed blonde in her thirties, he is stunned by her beauty and finds it hard to concentrate on the case.

While he carries out his investigation he is constantly preoccupied by the fear that he is becoming forgetful as he gets older. He even writes a letter to himself to remind him of the facts in the case.

He is assisted as always by the faithful, but hapless Catarella, who works round the clock to access files on the dead man’s computer for which he doesn’t have the password, confusing Montalbano by constantly referring to it as ‘the last word’.

Meanwhile, local  politicians are dying because of a batch of dirty cocaine that is in circulation and every day Montalbano’s appointment with the Commissioner has to be cancelled for some reason by Dr Lattes (with an s on the end) who telephones Catarella with the news.

Things are as complicated and hilarious as ever at police headquarters but a determined Montalbano gets to the truth in the end.

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The Patience of the Spider

An Inspector Montalbano Mystery by Andrea Camilleri

Inspector Montalbano is recovering from a gunshot wound he sustained at the end of the previous book in the series, Rounding the Mark.

The Inspector was shot in the shoulder by a man involved in trafficking very young, third world children and so he had no hesitation in taking out his own gun and shooting the despicable individual dead.

The kidnap victim had set off for a friend's
house on her scooter but never arrived.

But Montalbano's recovery from the wound is taking some time as he is feeling the weight of his years and becoming more and more introspective.

He is being looked after at his beachfront home in Marinella by his long suffering girlfriend, Livia, and keeps suffering flashbacks to his time in hospital.

However his convalescence is rudely interrupted when Catarella, one of his officers, calls him from the police station and tells him there has been a kidnapping.

The girl was a student at Palermo University and had been out in the evening to a friend’s house to study. She had left her friend to travel home on her scooter early in the evening but had never arrived.

The case just doesn’t add up in Montalbano’s opinion as the family did not have much money, so he wonders why the kidnappers would bother with this girl.

As usual his sharp mind and understanding of human nature helps him get to the truth with plenty of wry humour and a generous helping of Sicilian cuisine along the way.

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Rounding the Mark

An Inspector Montalbano Mystery by Andrea Camilleri

During a bracing swim in the sea, Montalbano encounters a floating corpse next to him in the water. His investigative instincts are aroused when he discovers the victim is a man who is believed to have been buried some time ago. 

The Inspector is also investigating the circumstances of a hit and run accident that killed a young child and quickly discovers there is a connection with his floating corpse.

The compassionate Inspector is horrified to uncover a child trafficking racket taking place in Sicily that will have disastrous consequences for its young victims. He vows to avenge the child killed by the hit and run driver and bring the evil organisers of the trafficking to justice, whatever the risk to himself.

The fishing village of Punta Secca in southeastern Sicily is
 the location used for Montalbano's house on the beach

Although Camilleri is dealing with a horrific subject that sickens his protagonist, Montalbano, the author skilfully mixes tragedy with comedy, also showing the reader the absurdities of day to day life in Sicily and the bizarre way the police force is run by the people at the top. 

Throughout the book Montalbano is constantly on the look out for an excellent meal and trying to keep his long distance love affair with his girlfriend Livia going.

This is another gripping and entertaining mystery from Camilleri, despite the seriousness of the subject he is dealing with. 

The 14th series of the TV drama Inspector Montalbano, based on Camilleri's novels and starring Luca Zingaretti in the title role, is due on screens in Italy in March this year, taking the total number of episodes so far to 37.

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Excursion to Tindari

An Inspector Montalbano Mystery by Andrea Camilleri

The TV version of the Montalbano mysteries uses locations
such as Pozzalo (above), on the Sicilian coast near Ragusa

Inspector Montalbano is called in to investigate when a young man is murdered in front of his apartment building just as he was about to put his key into the lock of the entrance door.

What seems a routine investigation suddenly becomes more interesting when an elderly couple are reported missing by their son and Montalbano discovers they lived in the same apartment building as the murder victim.

Against a backdrop of the complications of life at Vigàta police station and the difficulties he encounters in his own personal life, Montalbano uncovers a brutal new version of the Mafia that has sprung up in Sicily.

The elderly couple had travelled by bus on an excursion to a place called Tindari, but were fated never to return from their trip.

Montalbano finds himself being led down a path more evil than any path he has been down before.

But there is no shortage of visits to authentic trattorie where the Inspector finds the seafood particularly good. Once again Camilleri produces the style of writing that brings the smells, colours and landscapes of Sicily to life for the reader.

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Voice of the Violin

An Inspector Montalbano Mystery by Andrea Camilleri 

When Montalbano discovers the dead body of a naked woman by accident in an uninhabited villa on the edge of town, he is determined to find out why she was murdered and bring her killer to justice.

He meets up with her friend, Anna, who puts him on the trail of the victim's much older husband, who is a respected doctor, her lover, who is an antiques dealer, and the friends she has made while establishing a holiday home for herself in Sicily.

The Inspector is attracted to Anna, but he has his chaotic personal life to deal with at the same time. When he is taken off the case by the Commissioner based at police headquarters, who dislikes him, he has to investigate the case unofficially to make sure the right person is accused of the murder.

There are plenty of meals featuring Sicilian specialities for Montalbano to enjoy before the ‘voice of the violin’ helps him arrive at the truth.

It is another funny, clever mystery by Camilleri set against the colourful backdrop of Sicily .

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(Sicily picture by Peter H from Pixabay)

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The Snack Thief

An Inspector Montalbano Mystery by Andrea Camilleri

Inspector Montalbano is ridiculed by the media when he commits men and resources to try to catch a young boy who is stealing other school children’s mid morning snacks.

But as usual there is method in his apparent madness. The child’s mother has disappeared and he believes her to be a vital link between two murders.

An elderly man has been found stabbed to death in an elevator and a crewman on an Italian fishing trawler has been machine-gunned by a Tunisian patrol boat off the coast of Sicily.

Only the Inspector, with his unorthodox methods, believes the two deaths are connected.

But as usual his instincts are right and he knows that it is vital he catches the young child before someone else does.

The story is both compelling and amusing and as usual Camilleri makes the smells, colours and landscapes of Sicily come to life.

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(Sicily picture by Peter H from Pixabay)

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The Terracotta Dog

An Inspector Montalbano mystery by Andrea Camilleri

Montalbano suffers a serious gunshot wound after arresting a mafia boss and discovering a cache of weapons in this second novel in the series.

He is officially off duty injured for part of the story, which enables him to indulge his curiosity and investigate a crime committed more than 50 years before involving the murder of two young lovers, whose bodies he discovers being guarded by a terracotta dog in a hidden cave.

Montalbano's character is further developed by the author and we see how his intuition and passion help him arrive at the truth in this case. We also see him empathise with older Sicilian people, whose memories he relies on to help him solve the crime. 

The detective enjoys plenty of Sicilian speciality dishes during the novel, which the reader gets to savour second hand. The novel also provides an engaging  take on Sicilian small-town life, while telling a story that is both entertaining and gripping. 

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(Picture by djedj from Pixabay)

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The Shape of Water

The first Inspector Montalbano mystery by Andrea Camilleri

The Shape of Water introduces us to the squalor and chaos of Camilleri’s Sicily but also shows us its beauty and reveals the author’s love of the island.

The book starts, aptly enough, with the discovery of a body in a car by two garbage collectors.

Inspector Montalbano’s frustration with the legal and political system in Sicily, the every-day acceptance of corruption and the ongoing problems with the mafia are all vividly set out in the first few pages by Camilleri’s graphic prose, translated into English by Stephen Sartarelli.

Although the novel begins with a description of litter collecting by impoverished, unemployed, university graduates we are quickly transported to Montalbano’s house, which looks out over the sea and the San Calogero trattoria where he enjoys perfectly cooked dishes featuring locally-caught fish.

We learn about the Inspector’s complicated relationship with his girlfriend Livia, who lives in Genova, and his passion for literature and good food. We also find that despite Montalbano’s tough exterior he possesses a determination to get to the truth and a propensity to dispense his own type of justice, showing compassion and respect for vulnerable and honest people but no mercy at all for those who are greedy and immoral.

In this first Inspector Montalbano mystery, Andrea Camilleri serves up humour, local colour and an intriguing puzzle, spiced up with plenty of Sicilian cooking, which of course only leaves us wanting more.

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(Sicily picture by Nicola Giordano from Pixabay)

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