Rated 3 1/2
Copy of an e-mail I sent to friend regarding this book:
Your right, I do need to re-read the book because I was very confused for a great deal of it. To start with, it had nothing to do with the blurb which highlighted the bodies in the cave and that part didn't come into the story until about half way through so I was wondering if I had gotten the wrong recording. I had that happen to me once so I knew it was possible.
Also the crude language kept jolting me out of the story. Not because I am a prude but because it felt like the author just threw it in for effect. But then I remembered that you had mentioned that this was the second book in the series and I decided that the author was still trying to find the right 'feel" for the character. Then after a while the crude language stopped and I decided I was right. THEN I realized that this series is being written by two authors instead of one and then I decided that one of them was a much better writer than the other and that was the reason for how uneven the language was and for the fact that the second half of the book was much better than the first half.
Well, by that time my head was starting to spin! <LOL> I was very happy to get your comments because they were a great help. I am going to save your spoilers and then relisten with all of them in mind. And yes, I would like to continue to read the series because the venue is very interesting. It is a little serendipitous that we just finished reading about Operation Mincemeat because it added some background for this story. I caught myself watching for the submarine lurking silently off shore. :)
Publisher's Summary
Montalbano's latest case begins with a mysterious tête à tête with a Mafioso, some inexplicably abandoned loot from a supermarket heist, and some dying words that lead him to an illegal arms cache in a mountain cave. There the inspector finds two young lovers, dead for 50 years and still embracing, watched over by a life-sized terra-cotta dog. Montalbano's passion to solve this old crime takes him on a journey through Sicily's past and into a family's dark heart amidst the horrors of World War II bombardment.
Andrea Camilleri's Inspector Montalbano has garnered millions of fans worldwide with his sardonic take on Sicilian life. With sly wit and a keen understanding of human nature, Montalbano is a detective whose earthiness, compassion, and imagination make him totally irresistible.
