Cheryl R. (Spuddie) -
#12 Inspector Montalbano mystery set in Sicily. What are the odds that you would look out your window one morning and see a dead horse lying on the beach? This is how Salvo Montalbano's day begins, and things continue to stay weird for several days. By the time he follows the horse's tracks and locates where he was killed--a victim of a brutal beating--the corpse has disappeared. When a beautiful woman comes into the police station to report her horse missing, things get even weirder, and as usual the case intersects with another and gets all muddled up before the lightbulb goes off over Montalbano's head.
Meanwhile, he deals with people breaking into his home, women trouble, consumes much yummy food, has his share of grumpy and melancholy thoughts, buffaloes his superiors and baffles his staff, but eventually gets to where he's going in the end, solving both cases--once he starts following the right track.
Enjoyable visit to Montelusa and surrounding area with my favorite Italian curmudgeon, as usual and expected. Keep them coming, Mr. Camilleri!
Meanwhile, he deals with people breaking into his home, women trouble, consumes much yummy food, has his share of grumpy and melancholy thoughts, buffaloes his superiors and baffles his staff, but eventually gets to where he's going in the end, solving both cases--once he starts following the right track.
Enjoyable visit to Montelusa and surrounding area with my favorite Italian curmudgeon, as usual and expected. Keep them coming, Mr. Camilleri!
Cathy C. (cathyskye) -
By the twelfth book in this series, there's really not much new to say. Each slim volume is a perfect example of the translator's art, and each gives the reader a slice of Sicily in all its beauty, its ugliness, its humor, its despair, and-- last but not least-- its glorious food.
Montalbano's methods may be unorthodox, but he's a master of piecing things together and of evading his nitwit superiors so he can get the job done. He's got the perfect team to work with, and if it ever get dull, everyone in the station can rely on Catarella to liven things up. We also get to watch the inspector making a purchase in a local bookstore, a scene which every book (and crime fiction) lover will enjoy reading.
A recurring theme in these Montalbano books is his hatred of aging. In previous books, his whining about his advancing years got on my nerves a bit, but his complaints have mellowed, and I endure them and smile as I would with a friend. In The Track of Sand, Montalbano is dead set against wearing glasses, and Camilleri describes his brush with a mesmerizing woman so beautifully and tenderly that I could actually understand why a man might sometimes think of being unfaithful.
Camilleri is a master of the concise mystery that packs a punch. Like all the others in this series, The Track of Sand is filled with humor, delicious food, wonderful characters, and an interesting investigation. (Although I knew where Montalbano should be looking before he did, I still enjoyed watching his progress.) Each book is a delectable slice of Sicily, and I savor them all.
Montalbano's methods may be unorthodox, but he's a master of piecing things together and of evading his nitwit superiors so he can get the job done. He's got the perfect team to work with, and if it ever get dull, everyone in the station can rely on Catarella to liven things up. We also get to watch the inspector making a purchase in a local bookstore, a scene which every book (and crime fiction) lover will enjoy reading.
A recurring theme in these Montalbano books is his hatred of aging. In previous books, his whining about his advancing years got on my nerves a bit, but his complaints have mellowed, and I endure them and smile as I would with a friend. In The Track of Sand, Montalbano is dead set against wearing glasses, and Camilleri describes his brush with a mesmerizing woman so beautifully and tenderly that I could actually understand why a man might sometimes think of being unfaithful.
Camilleri is a master of the concise mystery that packs a punch. Like all the others in this series, The Track of Sand is filled with humor, delicious food, wonderful characters, and an interesting investigation. (Although I knew where Montalbano should be looking before he did, I still enjoyed watching his progress.) Each book is a delectable slice of Sicily, and I savor them all.
