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The Terracotta Dog by Andrea Camilleri (view source)
Revision as of 12:31, 23 December 2011
, 12:31, 23 December 2011no edit summary
Before you begin reading, make certain that you locate the notes supplied by translator Stephen Sartarelli and to be found at the back of the book. They're gold dust. They're those little points which would be obvious to a native Italian speaker but which can't be readily explained within the text even by someone as accomplished as Sartarelli. I discovered then ''after'' I'd finished one of Camilleri's books - and now they're the first thing I look for.
It's one of the earlier novels in the series but one of the more complex with its journey into the dark heart of some of the secrets which still linger from World War II. The plot is the perfect foil for Montalbano - even in the midst of other murders and robberies he's still determined to get to the bottom of the mystery of the deaths of the two lovers - despite the fact that he begins by having no idea of who they were and knowing that their murderer is almost certainly dead. somehow Somehow - you're never quite certain how , or that it will - it all comes together.
The cast of characters which will follow Montalbano through subsequent books is now fairly settled. Catarella, with his ability to murder ''any'' language will develop more in future books. At the moment he's more of an annoyance to the team than anything else. Amazingly - particularly given the number of books now in the series - there are no spoilers and despite there being quite a reasonable continuing story there's no problem if you read them out of sequence.