Another engaging story from Camilleri. This one is better than his first, and not as good as his next. Again, I was distressed that it ended so soon..Show More », but that inevitably brought to my mind a wonderful Whoopi Goldberg routine from her early stand-up days.
When a creepy old man tried to woo her into a tumble by promising that old men can last a long time, she paused for a long Whoopi moment.

To paraphrase her question to the audience:
Now why... would I want to read a baaaaaaaaad book... for a LONG TIME?!?

And indeed, I'd rather spend a short time with a book as wonderful as this than a long time with some of the mountainous drivel I've mis-chosen lately.
Highly recommended.

AUDIO: The same competent and well-fitting narrator, thank goodness.

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Andrea Camilleri's Montalbano isn't my absolute fave Italian (well, he's Sicilian) cop series --I prefer David Hewson's Nic Costa (who, yay! has a new..Show More » one out). However, the books are good enough I keep coming back. Part has to do w/Grover Gardner's narrations; I think he's the best reader there is. Montalbano is billed as having a dry sense of humor, but sometimes he just comes off as a jerk --maybe it's the translation? Still, they're worth listening to. *sorta spoiler alert* He gained some depth in this one by finally taking his rather inexplicable relationship with Olivia a bit further....tho not til the end of the book, & we don't see how things work out.

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I'd like to give the author the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps this is a much better novel in the original Italian. The characters are flat and unsym..Show More »pathetic. The plot is implausible and silly. In short, skip it.

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I really enjoyed this book. The narrator was good and the story carried me briskly along, with sympathetic characters, and enough twists to keep me in..Show More »terested. I had been reading a lot of heavy texts recently and needed a palate cleanser. This was had just the right amount of humor and wit. I will definitely pursue the series further.

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Imagine running into a dead body while you are swimming, and then having the mental and physical fortitude to drag it back to shore. That's how the st..Show More »ory starts. Imagine where it ends.

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This isn't my favorite series, but it was an okay listen. It is written in an old "gumshoe" style, which is not my preference when I choose a mystery...Show More » A little more interesting, however, is that it is Italian. The performance was generally passable, but some accents quite odd: including one character made to sound New York/New Jersey. That was weird and a bit distracting when he had "dialogue". If you like gumshoe, you might like this better than I did. The "mystery" of it was competent.

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I enjoyed this, my first, Montalbano mystery. Apparently there are more than a dozen stories in Italian, some translated to English, and an Italian TV..Show More » show based on this interesting detective. The narrator of this audiobook is skilled with various voices and accents appropriate to the characters. The story is unusual, but not improbable. I found Montalbano likeable, a real person who's good at what he does with a few little quirks here and there. I really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to my next Montalbano audiobook.

FYI: Some profanity that some may find offensive and a graphic description of the sexual assault/murder.

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Camilleri is wonderful, so understated, such humor, such a fun introduction to Sicily. Buy this, buy all of them.

This is the third of the series that I have read and the least engaging thus far. The story is dragged out to indulge Montalbano's sexual appetite in ..Show More »addition to his familiar palette, his bureaucratic intrigues, and comical neuroses about aging, surrounded by passing references to the case at hand. Worse, it was easy to determine the villain and the motive before I was half way through. Montalbano, whose abilities to see beneath the surface are legendary, is incapable of seeing beyond the end of his nose in this book. This episode in the series is much over-rated.

Grover Gardner was an entertaining narrator, as usual.

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This was my first Inspector Montalbano book and it was a delight. The characters are great and Montalbano is very humorous but also shrewd.

..Show More »Grover Gardner is quickly becoming my favorite narrator. I love any book he does.

This particular book won the Crime Writer Association's International Dagger Award for 2012 and it was well deserved. The story is rich and layered and fun to follow along with the investigation as it progresses.



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I do not give 5 stars in any category except his books and the terrific performance (as always) by Grover Gardner. The humor is unbeatable, and the d..Show More »etective story is whipped cream on the top. I save Camilleri for times when I need a lift, and he never fails. You've got a treat in store, but go back to the first in the series and you'll see what I mean.

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