Shortlisted for the CWA International Dagger 2011.
June 2010 Book of the Month.
Montalbano is back in this latest instalment. As enjoyable as ever and with the detective, now aged 56, starting to wonder if he is happy with his lot, or should he be making changes to please others. Detective work, his love life and a raging appetite….are all part and parcel of this great series.
'Cat, wanna bet I know why you're calling? A dead man was found somewhere. Am I right'? 'Yes and no, Chief'. 'Where am I wrong'? 'Iss a dead lady, Chief'. Things are not going well for Inspector Salvo Montalbano. His long-distance relationship with Livia is on the rocks, he feels himself getting even older and he's growing tired of the violence in his job. Then the dead body of a young woman is found in an illegal dump, with half her face shot off. Her identity at first unknown; a tattoo of a sphinx moth on her left shoulder links her with three other girls bearing the same mark, all recent Russian immigrants to Italy. Victims of an underworld sex trade, these girls have been rescued from the Mafia night-club circuit by a Catholic charity organization. The problem is, the other girls can't help Montalbano with his enquiries. They are all missing. As his investigations progresses, it seems that not everyone wants Montalbano to discover what really lies behind the organisation's charitable facade. And not only does Montalbano have a case to solve, he has a demanding stomach to feed, and he must save his foundering relationship with Livia.
Andrea Camilleri is one of Italy’s most famous contemporary writers. His Montalbano series has been adapted for Italian television and translated into nine languages. He lives in Rome.
His Inspector Salvo Montalbano has garnered millions of fans worldwide with his sardonic, engaging take on Sicilian small-town life and his genius for deciphering the most enigmatic of crimes. Both farcical and endearing, Montalbano is a cross between Columbo and Chandler’s Philip Marlowe, with the added culinary idiosyncrasies of an Italian Maigret’ and if you like authors such as Alexander McCall Smith, Donna Leon and Michael Dibdin you really should try some of his novels.
