#6 in the Inspector Montalbano Italian mystery series. Montalbano, the grumpy old cur, picks up the stalled investigation of the disappearance of a local financial wizard a month previously when an octogenarian (who’d been in hospital until the day before and hadn’t heard that the man made off with his money) waving a gun invades his still-open office and threatens to shoot Emanuele Gargano’s faithful secretary if someone doesn’t refund his money. Montalbano’s sergeant is on ‘wedding holiday’ so he has another officer dig through Mimi’s notes to find out information about the disappearing man, who swindled people out of billions of lire.

There are two schools of thought regarding Gargano’s disappearance—one is that he’s living it up on a beach somewhere, another that he double-crossed someone with Mafia connections and is sleeping with the fishes. Montalbano is not sure either camp is correct, but leans towards the beach theory until he does some further digging. Montalbano’s personal life also takes on a reflective note with Mimi’s wedding coming up so soon, and although he manages to make his way through many delicious meals, he seems to be a little down in the dumps and his usual wry humor doesn’t always rescue him from his unpleasant thoughts. His beloved Saracen olive tree has been chopped down by developers and he and Livia are having problems too. Still, as always, a delightful visit to Sicily. ( )

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6th in the Inspector Montalbano series.

A con artist, Emanuele Gargano, has disappeared with the life savings of half the pensioners in Vigáta. The only person who believes in him is his faithful receptionist, Mariastella, who opens the office very morning and waits by the phone for news from her beloved employer. Meantime, Montalbano and his new boss, Bonetti-Alderighi, continue their relationship, which is just this side of all-out war. Add to that all the usual problems with Vigáta’s more irascible residents, and you have the usual mix for another well-written story in this superb series set in Sicily.

What adds even more to the entertainment value of this series is the unerring sense of authenticity that Camilleri, born and raised in the area in which he sets his novels, gives to the books. His descriptions of both the landscape and the Sicilians themselves ring totally true. Stephen Sartarelli’s outstanding translation preserves the rhythm of Sicilian speech, which adds even more flavor.

The plots are good, and Camilleri knows how to drive to a denouement without losing interest and with a sufficient number of twists to keep the tension at a high level. Characterizations are superb; by this time Fazio, Mimí Augello, and Catarella are old friends, and we sympathize with Livia in her ongoing struggle to deal with her lover Montalbano’s less-than-honest episodes.

As usual, in The Smell of the Night, somehow the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Highly recommended. ( )

This is the first book I have read by this author, and I was fairly impressed. There was a good balance of suspense, mystery, wit, and humour, which made the book interesting. It is set in Italy, and the author does a good job of giving the reader a taste of Italian life and culture. It is a relatively short book compared to the lenghts of novels I am used to reading, with the text on the pages also being of no considerable density, so I had it read in less than a day. It is part of a series though, so I will be seeking out additional books to follow the other cases for Inspector Montalbano. ( )