Rating: 
Summary: absorbing and complete fun
Review: If you like Donna Leon and Patricia Cornwell, you will enjoy this book. My husband, who read it in Italian (in Sicily), says the dialogue suffered in translation. It was translated into American slang, and probably lost some of the colorful originality of the Sicilian dialect in the process. It's not necessary to translate things like 'Signor' and 'buon giorno'. I think most readers could handle that little bit of Italian. At first there are so many names, you have trouble getting into the story, but by the end of the first chapter I was hooked. The writing style is intelligent and straightforward, and so pared down that the story just zips along. The plot holds your interest and the end is satisfying. I also loved the food descriptions. I definitely want to read all the books in the series and hope they're all translated into English.
Rating: 
Summary: His first Inspector Montalbano novel
Review: If you read the publisher's review you'll get a really good idea about what this book is about. So, should you read it? Yes. And who am I to say you should? Why should you read this? Do you like mysteries? Have you been looking for something a little different but still interesting, intriguing perhaps? Do you like you're protaganist's to be down to earth, humanely defective, but intelligent and with a sense of good taste? And I do mean a sense of taste for the finer foods in life. Inspector Montalbano is one cool cop with a few ticks that make him intriguingly funny and obtuse. This novel is witty and has a few new twists that are different from American/English writers. At first you may find that this novel "reads" a little differently from what you're used to. The names of people and places in Sicily may be a little overwhelming too at first, but don't give up! Read on! The story is so good that you'll find yourself reading it and the names and the different style will become a pleasant experience that may just lead you to read more of this great Italian writer, Andrea Camillera. I rated it 4 stars instead of 5, because having read the next two in the series, "The Terra-Cotta Dog" and "The Snack Thief", which are both 5 stars to me, this one was good but not as good. But it's a good book and a good introduction into the world of Andrea Camillera's sleuth, Inspector Salvo Montalbano. Highly entertaining. Try it, you'll like it.
Rating:
Summary: His first Inspector Montalbano novel
Review: If you read the publisher's review you'll get a really good idea about what this book is about. So, should you read it? Yes. And who am I to say you should? Why should you read this? Do you like mysteries? Have you been looking for something a little different but still interesting, intriguing perhaps? Do you like you're protaganist's to be down to earth, humanely defective, but intelligent and with a sense of good taste? And I do mean a sense of taste for the finer foods in life. Inspector Montalbano is one cool cop with a few ticks that make him intriguingly funny and obtuse. This novel is witty and has a few new twists that are different from American/English writers. At first you may find that this novel "reads" a little differently from what you're used to. The names of people and places in Sicily may be a little overwhelming too at first, but don't give up! Read on! The story is so good that you'll find yourself reading it and the names and the different style will become a pleasant experience that may just lead you to read more of this great Italian writer, Andrea Camillera. I rated it 4 stars instead of 5, because having read the next two in the series, "The Terra-Cotta Dog" and "The Snack Thief", which are both 5 stars to me, this one was good but not as good. But it's a good book and a good introduction into the world of Andrea Camillera's sleuth, Inspector Salvo Montalbano. Highly entertaining. Try it, you'll like it.
Rating:
Summary: Camilleri Develops a World-Wide Audience
Review: In a grotesque death, Sicilian politician and wealthy engineer Silvio Luparello, is found in a remote "pasture", or the equivalent of a lonely stretch of land where prostitutes ply their trade in their clients' cars. Garbagemen find the car, and the body, with its pants around its knees, and we are immediately struck by how much effort is expended to downplay the incident and cover up the cause of death. Into this mess comes well-respected middle-aged Inspector Salvo Montalbano, a life-long resident of the fictional Sicilian coastal town of Vigata. The novel follows Montalbano's clever and well-manuevered search for the truth; letting the reader meet local politicians, Montalbano's friends and colleagues, the family of the dead man, and a mysterious and roundheeled woman who races cars for a living, and is somehow entangled in Luparello's death. In a sidebar, Montalbano also makes the acquaintance of the garbagemen, and learns of a serious healthcare crisis with the child of one of them. As he researches the case, Montalbano breaks a lot of rules, but delicately, becomes chagrined over the affections of a young police officer (the daughter of his old friend), makes time to woo his own love, Livia, in Genoa, and flies under the radar of town leaders, religious leaders and his superior officers, all of whom want him to close the case quickly, and admit that Luparello dies of natural causes. The reader develops an appreciation for Montalbano's subtlety, and his art in acquiring delicious food from friends, restaurants, and his own kitchen...Montalbano loves a good meal. The cynicism and humor are subtle here, poking gentle fun at Sicilian political customs, such as a killing where everyone hopes the death was a Mafia hit, so that they don't have to search for the real cause. I've read so much that's good about the work of author Andrea Camilleri (a citizen of Rome, now age "70 ", author of screenplays for Italian television, producer and director for TV and the theater, and award-winning novelist and short story writer) that it was inevitable that I would find the time to start his "Inspector Montalbano" series with "A Shape of Water". I must admit I'm puzzled as to how the title ties into the story, but know this -- I probably won't stop until I've read them all. At this point, 4 of the 7 novels have been translated into English. First published in 1994, this novel has been translated into 8 languages, and began to circulate in English in 2002. The translator, American Stephen Sartarelli, does a fine job, and, although there is a breakdown from time to time in sentence structure, Sartarelli provides three dozen notes in the back of the book, to help Americans understand Sicilian customs and culture. This goes a long way to breaking down the barriers to the book. Having not yet read the remaining books, I believe that they probably succeed in developing tighter story lines, and allowing us to build on Montalbano's quaint idiosyncracies. Hopefully, they'll include more of his childhood friend, Gege, who is now Vigata's leading pimp... "Salvo and Gege were listless schoolboys, learning their lessons like parrots".....(now as adults)..Gege: "And I tell you in my own interest. Because for a big cheese like Luparello to come and croak at the Pasture, isn't good for business....Can I go now? These are peak hours at the Pasture." One word of note, this work, and probably that of the following novels, is graphic in the use of foul language and sexual situations. If this bothers you, you're not going to want to read on. I'm definitely impressed and am going on to read the next books in series, with the hope that the international audience is right...Camilleri just keeps getting better and better.
Rating: 
Summary: RELAX, DONT DO IT, IF YOU WANT TO SHOOT IT
Review: In the American detective novel such as the Maltese Falcon oftentimes the hero is just as bad as the thugs he fights against and resorts to what we would call evil to achieve his ends. In The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri we have an altogether different animal. While retaining some of the facets of the hardboiled crime novel, it also lightens the atmosphere and incredibly features an honest and moral man as its protaganist. Salvo Montalbano, the police inspector for the small Sicilian town of Vigata, is deeply respected by his community for his honesty and fairness. That is doubly important since there is corruption in all levels of the Italian government. He is very likable. He doesn't cheat on his girlfriend, he does good deeds, and he's also pretty intelligent, sometimes even discussing literature with other officers in the know. Not exactly the cold-blooded killer we see in America. What a breath of freshness this is! Hold on, dont think that this is some nice cub scout book to be read to children. As the novel opens, two garbagemen find the body of Silvio Lupanello, chief political figure in Vigata. They find him dead in a car in the Pasture, a local name for an area known for its drug and prostitution activity. One of them finds a valuable necklace on the ground and conceals it from the police. Salvo is called in to investigate the scene. I hesitate to say crime scene because it is not known whether any crime has been comitted. The rumors begin to spread that it was foul play. The problem for the inspector is that he wants to know the truth, wherever it leads him. Even it ends up sullying the plans of the political elite. This was a good book. It was so refreshing to get a new perspective on a detective novel. I'm not alone because this series is a best-seller in many countries. It was originally published in Italy almost 10 years ago and has just now made it to English. I liked the fact that we had a traditional hero in the novel. I mean, American writers really blur the lines between good and evil most of the time. That's not to say there are no twists and turns in this novel. Camilleri seems to be in complete control of writing a novel that can be tough and yet gentle at the same time. The characters were great. The setting really invoked the country. The only thing that I can complain about was that maybe the novel moved too fast. You never have time to slow down. It seems like more of a cinematic experience. Maybe that will be remedied in the second novel. If you like detective stories with a refreshing change, seek this book out.
Rating:
Summary: Very Italian police novel
Review: Inspector Montalbano of the police force in the small Sicilian town of Vigata has to investigate the death of Silvio Lupanetto, an engineer and local political hotshot of the reigning christian democratic party. Mr Lupanetto has died of a massive heart attack while having sex, but the place where his body is found is suspicious: why would a cautious man like him go to the local prostitute and drug area? The inspector's investigations give a nice insight into Italian wheeling and dealing: sex schandals, rich people with an attitude, the Mafia, left versus right, corruption and bribing. In short, everything we Europeans suspect Italy to be. Italy is a lot more, but in this novel there are only hints of good food and drinks, a great culture and a lovely countryside. The book is written in a very fluent style and the story has a number of twists and turns which makes it an enjoyable read. I would say 3½ stars, so let's make it 4 because this is the first book of a series and character of the inspector may still grow.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Knowing the huge success this book had had all over Europe, I confess I have expected much more of it. I also think, as my fellow reviewer above, that the sicillian way of thinking, speaking and handling is well exposed in this book. Commissario Montalbano is a funny, intelligent, amusing character, the descriptions of the action settings are precise, the dialogs are tremendously well structured ( Andrea Camilleri is also a dramaturg). From the mere literary point of view, I would rate this book as very good. But were talking about criminal litterature, about a murder and a cop who searches for the truth of the facts. While his quest, his interviews with witnesses, and his searching for evidences are as interesting as the ones we see in other great authors, the end of the book is a huge disappointment. I have read the last pages thinking "Ok, now there's gonna be the great BOOM of the book". The pages passed by and nothing. In the end, I ask myself: after all, which is the form of water? Why the hell is this the title of the book?! And couldn't the solution of the case be a little more exciting? I have guessed it in the beginning of the book.
Everything is to foreseenable here, I think I would've loved this book 5 years ago, as I was 14 or 15 years old..
Rating:
Summary: Camilleri e' bravissimo
Review: Non dovreste mancare di leggerlo, tanto poi stimola la diuresi ed alza la colesterolemia
Rating:
Summary: Welcome to a different Sicily
Review: Once again we are in Vigata on the Sicilian Coast (and the birthplace of the author). Salvo Montalbano, the local keeper of the law, brings his humanity and knowledge of the local customs to a vexing case: the victim - engineer Silvio Luparello - of murder most foul was not blown away by a lupara, but ostensibly died in the performance of a manly occupation. Open and shut case. Delicious, but not true. Montalbano recognizes a murder when he sees it and then unravels the events. The world of Montalbano is a wonderful world indeed, including his permanent fiancee Livia (who lives on the mainland), colorful locals and interesting food. Much fun can be had by reading this book.
Rating:
Summary: Italy for Killers
Review: Salvo Montalbano is an Italian detective who lives in a small town in Sicily. Unlike many American detective novels where the protagonist is tough and hard boiled, Montalbano is refined, and cultured. He is known in the community to be fair minded and kind with a love of fine food and finer women.
When a important official in town is found dead in a seedy area Montalbano investigates with his own style and charm.
The book, the first of four, has been translated from Italian, and the books are bestsellers in Europe. While enjoyable, it was an adjustment from what I'm usually used to reading in regards to mystery novels. Much of the book deals with life in an Italian town and the heiarchy that exists there, as well as the political climate. A glossary in the back provides translations from everything to local police customs to money exchanges. While giving you a definite feel of time and place, it didn't always engage me like I hoped it would. Still, it's an enjoyable and quick read if you're looking for a mystery series that's different in tone and locale.
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