An excellent, humerous start to a great crime series set in Sicily.

RELEASE NOTES:

This looked intriguing and was recommended at the Leeds Meetup so will go on my groaning 'to read' shelf.

Really enjoyed this. Set in Sicily against a background of the Mafia, it is an intriguing and unusual detective story. Inspector Montalbano, the protagonist, is very much a lone gun, hell to work with but very effective, yet desperate not to be promoted.


Quite apart from the crime element of this book it could also be read as a cookery book. The meals are described with even more thought and care than the characters! It seems that if Montalbano doesn't get at least one haut cuisine meal a day he sinks into a deep depression! At one point he takes an instant dislike to an otherwise perfectly nice woman because she overcooks his pasta. This is so resonant of certain members of my family it is untrue!
The only criticism I would make is that in parts I felt the translation was a little clunky - that is I thought it was too obvious that it was a translation. The opening sentence was a case in point ("To judge from the entrance the dawn was making, it promised to be a very iffy day.."). It starts out quite poetic and then throws in some rather out of place idiom.

That said, I would still recommend it.

RELEASE NOTES:

Releasing at the York Meetup tonight

Brought this one away from the York Meet Up on Mai-day's recommendation. Thanks - I look forward to reading it!

Interesting but not really my style, although I don't know that I can explain why not.

I think I struggled with the Sicilian setting. I had trouble remembering the unfamiliar names of people and places, so that I wasn't always sure where we were or who was speaking. With very few exceptions, I couldn't tell one character from another.

The blurb says that our hero looks back to World War II, which I found slightly off-putting as that's not a period I often choose to read about. It's too recent to be history (I was born at the end of it!) yet too long ago to feel at home. As it turned out, that was the storyline which held my attention. The current crimes and the mafia connection left me cold.

Having given my honest response (and there's no point posting anything else), I should add that it's a strong story and deserves to find a more appreciative reader the next time around. Good luck!

Unfortunately I can't get to the December York Meet Up so I'm hoping Tree-hugger will deliver this for me!

Mai-Day is really selling this book! I picked it up on her recommendation too at the December York meet; will update when I've read it.

Yes, this is a fun detective story and the lead character Montalbano is interesting (the Guardian describes him as "a cross between Columbo and Chandler's Philip Marlowe. with the added idiosyncracies of an Italian Maigret") - and boy, are the author and his protagonist both obsessed with food! Don't read when you're hungry or your mouth will be watering. I do agree that the translation was very obvious; some phrases just didn't sit right with the book and dragged you out of Sicily rather roughly. Other than that, though, it's a good read.

RELEASE NOTES:

At the Rowntree Park Birthday event, on a bench.