The Other End of the Line

Inspector Montalbano Mysteries, Book 24

By: Andrea Camilleri, Stephen Sartarelli

Narrated by: Mark Meadows

Length: 6 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

The Other End of the Line is the 24th Inspector Montalbano mystery from the international best-selling author Andrea Camilleri.

In Inspector Montalbano’s coastal town of Vigàta, a surge of migrants have been coming in by boat, and all the town’s hands are on deck to help the arrivals. At the heart of the scene are the police - on the lookout for the people smugglers responsible - and long night shifts are rendering Inspector Montalbano and his officers exhausted.

Then one night, while Montalbano is enduring yet another gruelling stint at the port, a separate crime is committed - unexplained, unexpected, and unpleasant. Elena, the dressmaker at the town’s famous tailors, has been found dead – slaughtered by her own scissors.... 

As a swell of desperate people arrive in search of a better life, Inspector Montalbano finds himself trying to unravel the mystery of who murdered the dressmaker. But as he makes his enquiries, the inspector can’t help but wonder: what will happen if he keeps tugging on this thread? And what will he find at the end of the line?

©2019 Andrea Camilleri (P)2019 Macmillan Publishers International Ltd

Excellent Deceptive Plot

Another well knitted main story. The sub story was definitely for our times. Pure genius.

The Other End of the Line

Wonderful version. I know this book well, through reading the book version and watching the tv series. Really enjoyed the atmosphere and characterisation. Yes, like the books ,the characters can appear to be a little one dimensional but on closer listening there is a touching humanity and dignity which can be very reassuring.

Not the best Montalbano story....

The is perhaps worst Montalbano story I’ve read. The latter part has a perfunctory feel about it, as if the author got bored and ended it quickly, It is as if it is made up of two halves of a different story. In the first half we meet situations and characters, but in the latter part of the book these are not developed, and the solution is found elsewhere. None of the intricate plotting of most of Camilleri’s books. Of course the humour and the usual characters are all there, Fazio, Augello, Catarella and others, and this is the saving grace. It is still worth a read but not as good as the other Montalbano stories.

Nice thriller as usual.

Nice, so nice that from a certain point onwards your brain starts functioning like Montalbano's.
I think Camilleri is not at his best here but still you never get bored and you always feel like moving within the novel, like watching the happenings from inside, like you are present on the scene.

As entertaining as ever

Simple story, well told and well performed. I wonder if he was considered out of step with public opinion over his continually sympathetic portrayal of migrants who cross the Mediterranean?

I have not come across a single one of the Montalbano stories I haven’t enjoyed. Some are better than others but none let you down.