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Rounding the Mark
An Inspector Montalbano Mystery (seventh translated into English)

by Andrea Camilleri
Translated from the Italian by Stephen Sartarelli



      Inspector Salvo Montalbano of the Vigata, Sicily police is back, but not exactly his usual ebullient, enjoying-life-to- the-fullest-even-as-he-rants-about-it self. It’s not that the inspector’s passions have dulled. The world just seems to be conspiring to make his life miserable. Truly miserable, not just trigger-a-new-rant miserable. So much so that he’s on the verge of submitting his resignation from the police. If he can only get the timing right...

Triggering the resignation is thorough disillusionment with what he does and who the police are in the wake of several scandals. Adding to his misery is the closing of his favorite restaurant, something he takes far more seriously than indications of health problems. And then there are the signs things are changing right in front of him, at his own station. Catarella (depicted with a B movie Brooklynite dem, dose, dialect to indicate his IQ) starts getting people’s names right and coming up with the answers others miss. Mimi is turning virtuous. Is the apocalypse at hand? Worst of all for Montalbano’s mental health is the child for whose death he feels personally responsible. Guilt about that drives him from thoughts of retirement into an investigation of illegal immigrants, loan sharking, child abuse, and organized crime. One that will test him in every way, with more tentacles than the antipasto of salted squid at what might be his new favorite restaurant.

As full of reasons for despair as his Sicily can be, Camilleri also fills it with a delightful undercurrent of life’s absurdities, such as Catarella’s attempts to take a message or the unexpected results when Montalbano uses his bathing suit to tug in a body he discovers while swimming. The books in this series teem with vibrant, bravura life and a strong sense of place rooted in Montalbano’s passions for food, fighting crime, his homeland and women (probably in that order of importance). They’re short, fast reading and an incredibly entertaining way to lose yourself in a world thoroughly removed from humdrum, everyday life. Highly recommend.

The Book

Penguin
July 2006
Trade Paperback
014303748X
Police procedural [contemporary Sicily]
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Excerpt
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The Reviewer

Kim Malo
Reviewed 2006
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© 2006 MyShelf.com