The Shape of Water

Two garbage collectors find a dead politician in a car parked on the notorious Pasture, the local place where people go to find a prostitute. Signor Lubarello died of a heart attack, but the situation surrounding his death suggests to Inspector Montalbano that all is not as it appears. He convinces the judge to let him continue his investigation, even though the death is apparently natural and all Montalbano has to go on is a hunch.

I never would have heard of this Italian police procedural if it hadn't been for Richardderus's recommendation based on my enjoyment of the Three Pines series. I don't read a lot of mysteries; I like them cozy, and I'm picky about it. Well, the Inspector Montalbano series is rougher around the edges than a show more cozy without going quite so far as the characters in The Maltese Falcon (I despised them, with no exceptions). Montalbano's informants are seedy people but trustworthy in their own fashion. Montalbano himself is not a saint, though he lives by his own code of ethics. Politics are dirty, allegiances are complicated, and it can be a little difficult to follow when you're as completely unfamiliar with Italian police and politics as I am. Even so, I was surprised that the seediness of some people and places didn't bother me more. Interactions between characters are believable and often humorous. The plot is fast-paced, keeping me reading late into the night to get just that much closer to the end, and intrigued me enough to want to continue the series. show less

Truth is like water poured into a vase or a glass, a cup or a bucket: just as water takes its shape from its container, truth can be just as malleable, depending on one’s point of view. Camilleri’s The Shape of Water presents just such a conundrum: a corpse is discovered and though it soon becomes clear the deceased died from natural causes all is not as it seems, with Commisario Montalbano suspecting foul play when circumstantial evidence suggests things don’t add up.

The first in the Inspector Montalbano series set the bar high when it was first published two decades ago. The Sicilian detective is an idiosyncratic crime fighter who bends the rules if it’s necessary to arrive at the truth. Unlike the costumed heroes of comic show more books, however, he relies on intellect and logic rather than fists and superpowers to accomplish it, and with the corruption and violence that is still synonymous with Sicily it’s easy to believe that the ends justifies the means, even if his longtime girlfriend Livia thinks that he is behaving like a tinpot god.

Along the way we meet a succession of vivid characters, from an indulgent commissioner to a Swedish bombshell, from his boyhood friend who is now a pimp to the upright widow of the deceased. Several individuals we even get to meet again in subsequent novels, but they already seem to spring fully formed from these pages. Above all, you may start to care for the Inspector himself despite his irascibility; he is at heart a decent man who cares for the deserving, who does his best to redress the balance when criminals profit from their activities and who loves his job.

The Shape of Water is well plotted, ensnaring the reader in its twists and turns but playing absolutely fair. Even though the majority of places mentioned are fictional there is a good sense of landscape, a feeling of Sicily as ‘other’ than the rest of Italy. There are snatches of local dialect words (even in this translation), references to local cuisine, an underlying suspicion of layers of national government and policing that are ignorant and careless of the island’s particular identity. And yet, for all Montalbano’s contentment with working in a backwater, he is (like his creator) well-read, cultured and intelligent. Yes, he may use foul language to match the bravado of his colleagues, but he remains faithful to his girlfriend, hates violence and enjoys his gastronomic pleasures. There are moments of unpleasantness (much of it related secondhand) but also of humour and humanity. You can see why the novels became popular in Italy, evolving into a successful TV series and now being increasingly enjoyed abroad, not least in English-speaking countries: its judicious mix of grit and wit is attractive even for those, like me, who are not out-and-out fans of crime novels.

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Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: Andrea Camilleri's novels starring Inspector Montalbano have become an international sensation and have been translated from Italian into eight languages, ranging from Dutch to Japanese. The Shape of Water is the first book in this sly, witty, and engaging series with its sardonic take on Sicilian life.

Early one morning, Silvio Lupanello, a big shot in the village of Vigàta, is found dead in his car with his pants around his knees. The car happens to be parked in a rough part of town frequented by prostitutes and drug dealers, and as the news of his death spreads, the rumors begin. Enter Inspector Salvo Montalbano, Vigàta's most respected detective. With his characteristic mix of humor, cynicism, show more compassion, and love of good food, Montalbano goes into battle against the powerful and the corrupt who are determined to block his path to the real killer. This funny and fast-paced Sicilian page-turner will be a delicious discovery for mystery afficionados and fiction lovers alike.

My Review: Television made me do it.

No. Really. There's an Inspector Montalbano mystery TV series made in Italy, filmed in Sicily, and all in Italian with subtitles. Since there are no Italian people in New York City and environs, our local PBS stations AND the city's wholly owned TV station neither one carry it. {/sarcasm}

It was left to a not-very-cultured bud of mine in **DAYTONA, FLORIDA** of all the lowbrow, low-rent places, to gush and rave and generally make a to-do over scrumptious Sicily and handsome Montalbano blah blah blah. Wench. And oh the insufferable coos of "Really? Truly? You haven't even *read* the books? No! Get out!"

THEN, to add insult to injury, who but a cyber-siren (second class) reviewer and friend should pop up with more rapturous flutings about Camilleri and Montalbano and well, you see?? See?! How on earth is one two-eyed human supposed to resist a cyber-siren's enticements? Okay, she's not up there with the Goodreads Gods yet, but just a few more eye grafts and it's Katie bar the door!

So fine fine, I give, five lights, I'll go get the blasted thing. I did, at 2:10pm yesterday. I finished the second read at 4pm today. It's short, obviously, but it's just completely fabulously delicious. It's wry, it's witty, and it's got my favorite quality: Good people do the right thing, even if it's illegal, and bad people don't get away with dick.

Montalbano's got a lover in Genoa, a hot chick who happens to be his friend's daughter, and she's all worked up for him, as well as a murder suspect who is an Italian man's wet dream: tall, blonde, Swedish, racing car driveress. Does he cheat on the lover? No. Does he seem to want to? Not so much, he really can't be bothered about silly stuff like that when the local party big-wig is found half-naked and dead in the local errr, mmm, uuuh "playground" shall we say. The man's widow, completely unfazed by this, helps Montalbano see the details that are wrong, the little discrepancies that shouldn't be noticeable, but when added up make the whole picture...askew.

The resolution to this case is one I wish some publisher would allow an American author to get away with. I just can't say enough about the rightness of it all. Sicily needs me, I must fly there immediately! Well, via Camilleri's books. And over a smallish Northeastern city, where I plan to *bomb* a Certain Cyber-Siren Party's residence. show less

The first in his Inspector Montalbano series, The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri was a very enjoyable excursion to Sicily. As opposed to some of the darker European crime stories, Montalbano has both a warmth and lightness that makes the reader feel comfortable immediately. The food descriptions alone have me wishing a trip to Italy was in my near future.

The mystery itself was a lesson in political machinations with misplaced loyalties and ambitions. With a nice twist, Montalbano proves to himself exactly what happened to Silvio Luparello. He also proves to the reader that not only is he willing to bend the rules a little, he is also a very smart detective which bodes well for future books.

Although I mentioned lightness up above, show more this book was far from light-weight. Montalbano threads his way through a cauldron of corruption, and the darker side of Sicily is not disguised in any way. This was a story of contrasts with stark honesty, humor, warmth and vendettas mixed throughout. I am intrigued and will definitely be continuing on with this series. show less

Subtle. One of the only murder mysteries that I have read that is much more interested in the “why” than the “who” and “how.”

Intelligent humor. Maybe a bit smart for me. When the narrator or characters describe someone or something as being like a painting by an painter that I have never heard of, or reference plays by authors unknown to me, I start to wonder if there was a pre-requisite to this class and I missed it.

Definitely not of the English or American detective school and refreshing because of it. A great insight to how Sicilian Italians think about the world and the nature of crime and criminals. Everything is political in some way or the other.

This is the first in a long series. I enjoyed it and might be tempted show more to read more but it is a bit dry and light for my taste. More intellect than menace. show less

La forma dell'acqua was the novel that introduced the character of Salvo Montalbano in 1994 (some later novels and stories are set earlier in Montalbano's career). In the opening pages, a prominent local businessman and political figure is found dead in his car in an a bit of waste ground notorious for drugs and prostitution. Even though there's nothing in the physical evidence to suggest foul play, Montalbano isn't happy, and launches an investigation, much against the wishes of his superiors.

The humour, the constant subversion of authority (except for Montalbano's own authority over the Vigata police, of course), and the exaggerated food-worship are all very endearing. Camilleri's stage and TV experience show in the construction and show more execution of the story: generally in a good way, especially in the care he takes with the dialogue, which is always spot on and has to do most of the work of telling the story and defining the characters. But there are also some bits of "business" that didn't seem to work as well on the page as it would on screen: notably when he uses the old "gunfight with his own reflection" trick and we can see it coming a mile off. show less

I know this is probably a very good mystery deserving far more than 3*, but I am just not a mystery fan. I try every now and then, especially when a book is supposed to be very good, but I never quite get it. I feel as though I have let some fellow readers down, but there we are.

Inspector Montalbano is an honest, but not necessarily a strictly law-abiding detective. He is true to his love interest, but pursued by most of the women he meets. Intelligent and savvy, he makes connections that no one else sees. All set on a rugged island in Italy.

This mystery, the first in the series, involves a politician who is found dead in an outdoor brothel. Everyone wants to save face and close the case quickly. All except the inspector and the dead show more man's widow. After wild car rides, a half-naked woman in the inspector's bed, a fascinating pimp with whom he went to school, and a sick child, all is resolved, but little is said. show less