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{{infoboxsortinfobox1
|title=The Shape of Water
|sort=Shape of Water
|date=February 2004
|isbn=0330492861
|amazonukcover=<amazonuk>0330492861</amazonuk>|amazonusaznuk=0330492861|aznus=<amazonus>0330492861</amazonus>
}}
I have a penchant for Italian detectives. My favourite (when Michael Dibdin is on his best form) is Aurelio Zen, closely followed by Donna Leon's Guido Brunetti. Leon's not quite up to the standard of Dibdin at his best, but she's more consistent. Recently I've taken to reading crime novels in translation and my latest discovery is Andrea Camilleri's Inspector Salvo Montalbano. "The Shape of Water" is the first book in the series.
There was one point when I felt very cross with Mr Sartarelli. In the course of reading the book I Googled various words and phrases which I didn't understand, with variable results. ''Sicilchim'' didn't get a result at all. Then I found, right at the end of the book, with no prior reference which I could find, several pages of notes. Sicilchim is apparently shorthand for Sicilia Chemica, or Sicilian Chemicals. I'd have liked to have these notes as footnotes on the individual pages.
If you like police-procedural novels I think you'll like this book. There are some short-comings but I'll certainly be looking out for the later novels in the series, [[''The Terracotta Dog]] '' and [[''The Snack Thief]]''. If you are looking for other similar novels set in Sicily then you might like to read Michael Dibdin's [[Blood Rain]], although this is not one of the best in the Zen series. A better Aurelio Zen novel would be [[Dead Lagoon]], which is set in Venice. You might also like Donna Leon's Guido Brunetti novels. I particularly enjoyed [[Fatal Remedies]].
{{amazontext|amazon=0330492861}}
