The Smell of the Night

The Smell of the Night (2001) Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Sartarelli

As Montalbano continues to have trouble with the commissioner, trouble with Liva, continues to be an asshole to everyone he works with. In other words, nothing has changed with him.

In The Smell of the Night Emanuele Gargano has run off with billions of lire, and everyone in Vigata wants their money back and Gargano strung up–not necessarily in that order. Although the crime occurred in Vigata, the case has gone to the fraud investigator, and Montalbano and his department are left to tie up loose ends. Unfortunately, not only does the case get more complicated, the commissioner is after Montalbano, and nothing good is likely to come of that.

Despite the fact he’s an unrepentant asshole, Montalbano remains likable, primarily because he is deeply concerned with justice. And his anger is not only for his subordinates when they make mistakes, but for himself as well. This case shows that most clearly; Montalbano has nothing to gain by solving this case, yet solve it he wants to, not just because people have lost their savings in a Ponzi scheme (and who now doesn’t know what a Ponzi scheme is), but because he needs to know what happened.

However, although this book was good, it wasn’t great. I liked the twists and the turns and the unexpected discoveries. However, I saw the fight coming with Liva, and for some reason this story just didn’t have the urgency of other stories in the series. Like I said, it was good, but it wasn’t great. And the translator is still playing around with Catarella’s accent. It isn’t a problem per se, but it does take me out of the story when I keep noticing that his accent/dialect/speech patterns are different with every book.

As with the other books in the series, you should be able to read The Smell of the Night without having read any other books about Inspector Montalbano.
Rating: 7/10

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