Rating: 
Summary: A really excellent book.
Review: A Mafia leader wants out, but he has a job you don't just quit. Working with Sicilian Police Inspector Salvo Montalbano, Gaetano The Greek arranges a complex capture fantasy. The capture works, giving Montalbano more publicity than he wants and the threat of a feared promotion, but Gaetano also tells him of a cave where the Mafia hide a huge weapons cache. Montalbano investigates and finds both the weapons and an older and more complicated mystery. Two mummified bodies lie in a hidden cavern, accompanied by a water pitcher, a terra-cotta dog, and a rug. The meaning of the intwined lovers fascinates Montalbano and he virtually drops the Mafia investigation to discover what could have happened to the dead couple. Montalbano is a fascinating and well developed character. He lives by his own moral code, pursues an ambiguous relationship with Livia, and seems to appreciate good food more than he does either women or the law. His investigation combines literary allusion, hard-core detecting, a history lesson, and intriguing mentions of the food Montalbano finds himself enjoying. In THE TERRA-COTTA DOG, author Andrea Camilleri has a wonderful and moving story. Much of the story kept me laughing, but Camilleri maintains a darker subtext. The Mafia and Italian corruption and violence, both in the Fascist days and in the present, are an ever-present reality and form much of the story's background. I found the story to be completely compelling and recommend it without reservation.
Rating:
Summary: THE TERRA-COTTA DOG - Heels for the dead
Review: A most-wanted Italian mob boss invites series character Inspector Montalbano to a personal meeting - and to an odd agreement to stage the Mafioso's arrest and detainment. This new mutual respect, between cop and capo, leads to a cave that has entombed two dead and entwined lovers for fifty years. How do you solve a crime that occurred in Sicily during World War II? The Inspector is obsessed with the case, and searches for all of the relevant clues, from former family and friends, to the meaning of the terra-cotta dog, along with the other artifacts that were found alongside of the lovers. What follows is a very clever tale and trail of answers. While this mystery unfolds, the storyline reveals the Inspector's complex human nature, and his enigmatic relationships with his girlfriend, co-workers and bosses. The Inspector is passionate, quirky, self-righteous and egotistical. This leads to some bizarre personal behaviors. For example, when Montalbano, who is a cop, learns of the rape and incest of a friend, he chooses a very much out-of-bounds and non-legal method of dealing with the perp. So much for being a cop. THE TERRA-COTTA DOG is more than a single-dimension murder mystery. It is literature-like in its look at human relations, and the realities and rationalizations that make these characters tick. But as a murder mystery, by way of the Inspector's astute police methods, it doesn't get any better than this.
Rating:
Summary: THE TERRA-COTTA DOG - Heels for the dead
Review: A most-wanted Italian mob boss invites series character Inspector Montalbano to a personal meeting - and to an odd agreement to stage the Mafioso's arrest and detainment. This new mutual respect, between cop and capo, leads to a cave that has entombed two dead and entwined lovers for fifty years. How do you solve a crime that occurred in Sicily during World War II? The Inspector is obsessed with the case, and searches for all of the relevant clues, from former family and friends, to the meaning of the terra-cotta dog, along with the other artifacts that were found alongside of the lovers. What follows is a very clever tale and trail of answers. While this mystery unfolds, the storyline reveals the Inspector's complex human nature, and his enigmatic relationships with his girlfriend, co-workers and bosses. The Inspector is passionate, quirky, self-righteous and egotistical. This leads to some bizarre personal behaviors. For example, when Montalbano, who is a cop, learns of the rape and incest of a friend, he chooses a very much out-of-bounds and non-legal method of dealing with the perp. So much for being a cop. THE TERRA-COTTA DOG is more than a single-dimension murder mystery. It is literature-like in its look at human relations, and the realities and rationalizations that make these characters tick. But as a murder mystery, by way of the Inspector's astute police methods, it doesn't get any better than this.
Rating:
Summary: Eating and thinking one's way around Sicily.
Review: After reading Camilleri's "The Shape of Water" I was eager to read this one. Camilleri topped himself. The food, the characters, the plot, the food, the history and mythology, the food, the language, oh yes, did I mention the food. I couldn't help thinking what a pleasure it would be to meet Signor Camilleri, preferrably in Siclia, at dinner. Bravissimo.
Rating: 
Summary: A Quiet, Provincial Tone
Review: As I read further into this series by Camilleri, I am getting an inkling as to why it is popular in Italy. Like earlier books, it depicts Sicily as riddled with official corruption and organised crime, all under a dazzling Mediterranean sun. The fictional town of this book is far smaller than the teeming cities of the mainland, or indeed those of the US or Britain. The events of the book do not have the neon, the glitz, of mystery novels set in Los Angeles or London. There is a decided provincial feel to it. The humour is often dry, understated. Some witticisms shine through a well done translation, though I wonder if in the original Italian they are even stronger. The plot is more cerebral than a typical Raymond Chandler or Mickey Spillane novel, which tend towards more action. I can't quite put my thumb on it, but to me Camilleri's style is more akin to Agatha Christie, albeit with the book's inclusion of vulgarity and sex and drugs go far beyond her genteel drawing rooms and manor houses.
Rating:
Summary: SICILIAN RECIPE FOR MYSTERY
Review: Dependent on it's moody likable Inspector Montalbano whose Sicilian mannerisms and bohemian lifestyle carry and lie at the heart of this mystery, "The Terra-Cotta Dog" is a leisurely and fascinating journey through the streets and countryside of Sicily as the Inspector solves a mystery of preserved corpses found in a cave. It's the Inspector's love of art and music, his disdain and attraction to modern media, and his commitment to fine Italian cuisine which keeps these pages turning as the mystery itself brews as tempting as a slow cooked pasta sauce. The excitement wanes a bit as the book propels into climax which amounts to a conversation resolving all issues, but it's the time spent with the reserved yet crusty and good-hearted Inspector which makes "The Terra-Cotta Dog" so enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: SICILIAN RECIPE FOR MYSTERY
Review: Dependent on it's moody likable Inspector Montalbano whose Sicilian mannerisms and bohemian lifestyle carry and lie at the heart of this mystery, "The Terra-Cotta Dog" is a leisurely and fascinating journey through the streets and countryside of Sicily as the Inspector solves a mystery of preserved corpses found in a cave. It's the Inspector's love of art and music, his disdain and attraction to modern media, and his commitment to fine Italian cuisine which keeps these pages turning as the mystery itself brews as tempting as a slow cooked pasta sauce. The excitement wanes a bit as the book propels into climax which amounts to a conversation resolving all issues, but it's the time spent with the reserved yet crusty and good-hearted Inspector which makes "The Terra-Cotta Dog" so enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely superb
Review: I very much enjoyed The Shape of Water, the first in this series, so was delighted to find that The Terra-Cotta Dog had been published. It is even better than its predecessor. The Terra-Cotta Dog is beautifully written. Andrea Camilleri has one of the smoothest writing styles I have come across. I sat there completely absorbed in the book, and the next time I looked up it was substantially later in the day and I had read 100 pages. The writing--the plot, the characterizations, the language--flowed so well that I did not notice turning pages or the passage of time. If I had to come up with two adjectives for this book, they would be "elegant" and "evocative." These cover the characterizations, the writing, and the plot. I will not go into the plot here; it is complex and, as good as it is, it is almost secondary to the seductive nature of this book. Andrea Camilleri puts the reader into the brain of his detective, and one can almost smell the smells his detective confronts. You must read it for yourself.
Rating:
Summary: The Real Sicily
Review: Inspector Salvo Montalbano is no go-getter nor does he feel coerced into following the letter of the law at all times. He is very human, talking to mafia bosses and other miscreants. He clearly knows who has the power and uses his good connections to his advantage. The inspector works out of the little Sicilian town of Vigata - a pseudonym for the birthplace of the author. No wonder happenings sound so right and the dialogs are so perfect. Mr. Camilleri is already in his seventies. Maybe that explains the deep knowledge of land and people around him. The mystery itself reads like something one would imagine to happen in Sicily. But the rather unusual twist to it is the dating back to the American invasion of Sicily. That account alone - shown from the fishermen's observation of the approaching GIs - is great fun to read. Get the book and learn about the real Sicily.
Rating:
Summary: Inspector Montalbano is growing into his role
Review: One morning Inspector Montalbano gets a phone call from a criminal friend who tells him to meet "somebody". This somebody turns out to be the much wanted criminal Tano the Greek, who wants to turn himself in. He gets arrested but is murdered when transported from one prison to another. Just before he dies he tells Montalbano of a secret cave. After opening the cave where they find a considerable number of weapons, the inspector finds a second cave where he stumbles upon a gruesome, yet old scene. Together with a number of the elderly people in the village he is eventually capable of solving the crime, but at one point this nearly costs him his life. This is the second Camilleri book that I read and I should say that Inspector Montalbano is growing in his role: he start to be an acquaintance with his good and bad habits. The Shape of Water was a low 4-stars, this one definitely is 5-stars. Reading this book is good way to spend a day off.
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