I wonder how many more of these are coming? The author is in his 80's and Montalbano is in his 50's and starting to have some serious issues with his work and relationship with Livia. As always these are enjoyable to read. They are over before you know it. The main character has a zest for food and reflection. He's simultaneously alike and different from other police inspectors like Kurt Wallander. He's as devoted to seeking the truth but at the same time he's a pragmatist who moves on when the politicians intervene. His inept and political bosses are now the highlight in my readings of this series. His interactions with the commissioner are always entertaining as Montalbano suppresses his contempt and disdain for his boss. In this book Montalbano juggles a variety of cases while in a funk over his future with the love of his life, Livia. Unlike other typical fictional police detectives you never feel sorry for Montalbano. He's devoted to his work but also to living and enjoying life. The TV series is superb too. It's too bad it's not available in North American DVD format yet. The ending of this book is just right. Looking forward to the next one.

Oh good old Inspector Montalbano. Just the man for a good old holiday read. Irascible, greedy, but highly intelliigent and with a great team of side-kicks: fellow-detective Mimi, consciencious gopher Fazio, Montalbano's adventures are real page-turners. This time we have the murder of an Eastern European girl, a kidnapping that wasn't a kidnapping, and a shady lot of successful businessmen masquerading as devout and caring Catholics. A good yarn, but one which Montalbano's long-suffering girlfriend Livia does not seem to appreciate....

A rare miss for Camilleri. The mystery was all over the place. And the ending? Like Camilleri was tired of the story and it was time for some copanata alla siciliana, a good wine and after-dinner smoke. Again, I love Camilleri's razor-like commentary on Italian life, in particular Sicilian life, and the world in general and the description of Salvo's meals at Enzo's and the ones prepared by Adelina. You know that an author is sharp if he can make someone like me -- who hates the taste of fish -- want to partake with Salvo. One other criticism, though: What's the point of Salvo's relationship with Livia any more? I used to like her; not so much anymore but to be fair she's become a stock character. Let's break up already, Salvo! Ingrid is there for you!

I enjoyed this book definitely but I had trouble keeping up with all the names and got confused sometimes. It ending becomes quite face-paced in my opinion but ends quite abruptly. I was left thinking what happened to all these characters in the novel. Nevertheless I still enjoyed it and may read more of Andrea Camilleri's Montelbano series. I would also recommend this book to older readers (older teenagers plus) as it does have quite a bit of swearing and some sexual references.

This is the first book I've ever read by Camilleri; I saw it in the new mystery section at the library and thought I would give it a shot. My first impression is that it's a bit difficult to jump into the middle of this series without knowing the characters prior; I occasionally had some difficulties trying to remember who was who. (This was especially the case when Camilleri would refer to someone by their last name for six or so pages before someone refers to the person in passing by their first name. Quite difficult to discern who the person in question was! But that may be a translation issue more than anything else.)

I had high hopes for this book, but was a bit disappointed. The first 70 pages—roughly a third of the book—were extremely slow. The murder occurs, but there's no progress toward finding the killer. Instead, Inspected Montalbano (the protagonist) is featured prominently—or more accurately, his relationship problems with a woman named Livia, with whom he has had an on-again off-again relationship for years.

This book is heavily male-oriented. By that, I don't mean that only men would enjoy this book. But the primary characters—eccentric and almost cracky—are all men. Tommaseo works with Montalbano, and he's obsessed with victims' sex lives (or sex in general). Meanwhile, Catarella—kind of the police lackey—speaks with a hokey accent. (For example, he says "poissonally in poisson" a lot, or "personally in person.")

Montalbano is kind of an interesting protagonist. In this book he seems rather gloomy, but passing references to other events and other cases implies that he's not usually so glum. The weather and access to fresh fish seem to affect his moods greatly, and he takes pleasure in a good mid-day meal, regardless of the cases he works. I found Camilleri's inclusion of Montalbano's internal monologues to be quite funny as well. He also plays a crazy cop with unusual "interrogation" techniques in the examination of one suspect, and yells out multiplication tables to get the suspect to stop crying—an extremely funny scene.

I felt that the plot twisted and turned but ended up sort of where you would expect, despite some surprising instances that interrupt one's first thoughts. I would like to read the first in this series to get a better sense of Camilleri's writing and characters before passing further judgment; I found this book a bit difficult to follow at times.

I adore the Montalbano series, but this one isn’t one of my favourites.

Opening a new Montalbano book feels like returning home. I have come to love the characters and Camilleri’s writing is incredible. The descriptions of food always make me feel so hungry!

However, I was really enjoying this book until the last couple of chapters. The end to the case seemed rushed and has actually left me feeling a little frustrated and confused. I am hoping that the next book has a case that grips me all the way through and has a plot twist before the end, as I usually expect this from the Montalbano series. I close this book feeling slightly unsatisfied, but hopeful for what is to come!

While I didn't like this Montalbano mystery as much as the last, August Heat, it is still a solid entry to the series. There is quite a lot going on here, between details regarding Montalbano's now-rocky relationship with Livia, a side story about a faked-kidnapping, and the (as usual) excellent passages on Enzo's amazing trattoria (and other food notes) that the "main" story, that of the murder of a tattooed Russian girl, seems to get lost in the shuffle. That this book is a relatively brisk 231 pages condenses matters even further, so that in the end you're left feeling like things were all a bit rushed. Perhaps some of this will be covered in the next Montalbano, but nevertheless this entry whets the appetite for more!