Excursion to Tindari

Excursion to Tindari (2000/2005) Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Sartarelli

All murder mysteries are, at their heart, depressing. They tell the tale of how someone decided that the life of another human was disposable, and then act to snuff out that life. But the heart of this story feels even more depressing, somehow.

Despite the advances of the last story, Catarella remains, somehow, unchanged in so many ways.

“Thank you for agreeing to see me. You’re inspector Montalbano, aren’t you? … I feel mortified for having raised my voice, but I couldn’t understand what that policeman was saying to me. Is he a foreigner?”

Montalbano preferred not to answer.

And, of course, Fazio also remains unchanged.

He studied the sketch Fazio had made…the inspector became aware that Fazio must have resisted the temptation to draw much larger rectangles with the vital statistics of each occupant inside: first and last name, father’s name, mother’s maiden name, etc.

I do love how Fazio manages to push Montalbano’s buttons so well.

And never fear. There is, of course, food.

The room was totally empty. Eating at eight o’clock in the evening was for the Milanese; Sicilians don’t start thinking about dinner until after nine.

If I waited until nine to eat dinner, I’d be in tears, every single evening.

But, of course, as I said, there is the mystery. A young man is shot dead on the doorstep of his building, and from the same building an elderly couple has disappeared. Montalbano doesn’t know whether the two incidents are connected, but he doesn’t like the coincidence.
Rating: 7/10

• Browse the archives:
  
• The Smell of the Night » »
• « « Voice of the Violin