A Voice in the Night

A Voice in the Night (2012/2016) Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Sartarelli

Inspector Montalbano is turning 58 and not in the least happy about it.

From that moment on, he was going to stop taking public transportation, for fear that some young person might give him his seat upon seeing him.

Then it occurred to him that he could keep taking public transportation without any worry, since the custom of giving up one’s seat to the elderly had fallen out of use.

A grocery is robbed, and then found hanging in his office. Considering the fact that the grocery was a known front for a local crime family, the man’s death didn’t come as much of a surprise as it was assumed he had arranged the theft himself and then regretted turning on the Cuffaros.

We get Montalbano at his most irritable (at least the fights with Livia didn’t stem as much from nothing as in previous books (but I still don’t understand why they’re together)).

“I had it made for a normal tape recorder, since you would never be able to figure out how to use the digital kind.”

“As far as that goes, I don’t know how to use the normal kind either.”

We get Fazio.

“So what should be done, in your opinion?”

“Uselessness should be abolished.”

“Come on, Chief, that’s not possible.”

“Why not?”

“Because uselessness is an integral part of man.”

And of course Catarella.

“Cat, what’s this, in your opinion?”

Catarella didn’t hesitate for a second. “Chief, ’at’d be a didgytel recorder.”

“Meaning?”

“Meanin’ iss a mottified impy tree.”

“And what’s a modified impy tree?”

“Iss a mottified impy tree, Chief.”

And random bits of Montalbello being himself.

“An accountant!” he howled, leaping to his feet with eyes bulging.

Fazio just looked at him, a furrow appearing in the middle of his brow.

Mimì made light of the situation.

“Calm down, Salvo! What’s wrong with you? Accountants aren’t some sort of endangered species.

I really do love this series, though I know the number of books left are limited, since Andrea Camilleri is now in his 90s. But I’ll enjoy what is left, and for once be glad of the delay between publication and translation.
Rating: 8/10

Published by Penguin

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