Inspector Salvo Montalbano has been forced to stay in Vigata and work during August after a colleague extends his vacation. As luck would have it, Livia, his long distant love decides to join him, she doesn't expect Montalbano to be busy after all who would have the energy to commit a crime in this August heat. But to be on the safe side she's bringing her friends and their young son to keep her company. Montalbano secures a beach rental for the family while Livia spends evenings with him.

Montalbano is called to the beach house quite a few times over the next nine days as there seems to be a few problems, swarms of cockroaches, spiders and mice seem to have also taken up residents the family are not amused. Some would believe that this house was cursed especially when the little boy suddenly disappears. Montalbano rushes over to solve the case; the boy had fallen into a narrow shaft below the house, the boy is found and pulled to safety. Montalbano never satisfied decides to check what lays underneath the house, not only does he discover a small room below but within a chest a girls dead body. Montalbano mission now was to find out how this girl came to be at her final resting place and who was responsible to take a life so young. Sinister and corrupt forces build a bigger foundation.

Andrea Camilleri has kept this Interesting, he writes it, I read between the lines and pause for thought! Camilleri has chosen to write quiet clearly about the day to day levels of corruption in Sicily; even the little things in every day life and how Montalbano has to deal with those different levels of corruption to get his results. There are many different angles of corruption added to the layering of this book; Government corruption has profound effects on the country as a whole, but looking at a bigger picture Sicily's not the only country with that problem!, while no two countries are alike, there are common dilemmas for all to see. For instance; corruption and poverty affect both individuals and businesses, and they run in both directions: poverty invites corruption, while corruption deepens poverty. Another addressed in this storyline would be the corrupt markets and public bidding processes, inefficient firms and dishonest bidders have major advantages over honest competitors. Connections and cash, rather than innovation and excellence, become the way to win contracts. We all know in our own countries where a level of corruption starts and never ends. So while countries remain different, corruption anywhere share the same knock-on-effects!

Which now brings us to another hot topic Livia and Montalbano's relationship, a turn for the worst, normally they would argue it out in a healthy way of dealing with one another, and she in turn takes the no nonsense approach in his darker moods. But this time his dark mood goes too far, his only voice of reason has left him and Livia remains silent. He falls into quiet a deep melancholy mood spending time with a much younger women doesn't help as his questioning himself, age and life.

Montalbano character is always great to read, for his questionable brainstorms and unorthodox subversive opinions. Still the rebel, the thinker, not afraid to explore all areas even into obsession. Tenth book in this series and the story forms nicely enjoyable, but not as strong as others in the series, all Montalbano mysteries normally start in comedy but this one is darker than others more of horror and melodrama but there still remains a lot of human interest in every plot. Again the characterization and language the usage of dialogue has been kept real with sharp wit, the sly comments on Italian life and culture always keeps things for me amusing and interesting.

A special mention to poet Stephen Sartarelli, I'm thoroughly enjoying his clear translation of each book and for the informative notes given at the back on wording. Thank you.

Eleventh in the series is due out December 2009 - Le ali della sfinge - The Wings of the Sphinx!

Andrea Bowhill ( )

Inspector Muntalbano's girlfriend asks him to find a summer home for her girlfriend and family.
He finds a rental in the beach toen of Pizzo.
Once the family moves in, the home turns into the rental from hell. There are cockroach infestations, spider and mice infestations and worse a body is found in the basement.
Camilleri writes an amusing tale, it's not quite Inspector Clouseau but they could have been friends in a different life. ( )

10th in the Inspector Montalbano series set in Sicily.

As promised by the title, the heat is scorching. Livia has coerced Salvo into finding a beach rental villa for friends of hers, who have a little boy. When Montalbano visits them, the boy, a handful at best, manages to fall into an unused space below the villa that turns out to be an illegal apartment. After rescuing the boy, Montalbano notices a chest; naturally, he opens it--to find a nearly mummified body of a young girl, encased in plastic.

The resulting investigation turns up suspects, each of whom has a more or less ironclad alibi. To add to his troubles, Montalbano’s relationship with Livia is under strain, and Salvo is beginning to feel his age.

The previous book, Paper Moon, was something of a disappointment, since it concentrated more on Montalbano’s mid-life crisis than on any investigation. This book returns Salvo almost to form. The plot is very good, with interesting turns, and there is plenty of side commentary about the state of affairs in Italy (never good at the best of times).

Always important in this series are the comprimario characters; Fazio, Montalbano’s aide, who has been promoted to Inspector (Montalbano himself is a Chief Inspector); Dr.Pasquano, the irascible pathologist; the various idiotic bureaucrats who head up the Questura; and Catarella, the fumbling clown, who is a computer genius. As usual, the non-recurring characters are well portrayed.

Steven Sartarelli, the translator, does an outstanding job of translating into idiomatic English while keeping the style and rhythm of Italian. It’s not the strongest entry in the series, but is still an excellent read. Highly recommended. ( )