Penguin Mystery Original
January, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-14-311660-8
Paperback, 226 pp., $14.00
Inspector Montalbano is feeling his age: Only 56, he finds warring elements in his psyche pulling him between a bright, optimistic outlook, and a distinctively gloomier, perhaps more realistic one. His colleagues are, for the most part, decidedly grumpy fellows, and altogether endearing, e.g., Catarella, being whatever the Italian counterpart is of a malaprop, who can never manage to get a word or a name correctly. For his part, Montalbano is a man who savors a great meal and can be moved to tears at great art, and may have missed his true calling as an actor, and is a totally wonderful creation on the part of the author.
The body of a young woman is discovered, completely naked and with no possible way of identifying her. The only clue is a unusual and distinctive tattoo of a sphinx butterfly on her left shoulder. During the ensuing investigation Montalbano discovers that there are at least two other beautiful young women who had a similar tattoo in the identical spot, with similar backgrounds; unfortunately, they seem to have disappeared.
The apparent kidnapping of a wealthy, fifty-year-old businessman only serves to make life even more difficult for Montalbano, only added to by difficulties in his long-distance, long-term relationship with his girlfriend Livia, of which he says: “The tiniest thing, the wrong word, a minor angry outburst, might send them both down a path of no return. Meanwhile they were both left hanging as though in mid-air, like children’s balloons which, half-emptied of helium, can’t manage either to rise to the sky or fall to the ground.”
In another excellent translation by Stephen Sartarelli, the eleventh entry in the series finds the Sicilian citizenry facing hard times: “the police stations had no gasoline, the courts had no paper, the hospitals had no thermometers.” But of course there is no shortage of corruption or mafia involvement in everyday life. There are many references to real-world political and other aspects of Italian life, only contributing to the complete delight in reading Mr. Camilleri’s newest novel, wonderfully well-written with a good mystery and charming characters, and highly recommended.
