It's always a pleasure to spend some hours in Sicily with Inspector Montalbano. ( )

Semplicemente stupendo e aggiungere altro sarebbe solo un’inutile ripetizione di quanto di meglio si possa dire di uno scrittore unico, di un libro imperdibile e di una serie tanto famosa quanto amata. ( )

This is the second book in the Inspector Montalbano series that takes place in Sicily, Italy. The setting and atmosphere is the best part of the book. I was not a big fan of Inspector Montalbano, he is a bit crude and sexist for my tastes. The mystery was OK and I enjoyed the second half of the book much more than the first, it picke up once he really began investigating the cold case mystery. Over all it was just OK. I am not sure if I want to keep going in the series. ( )

Ritorna l'investigatore Montalbano: nel corso di un'inchiesta su di un traffico d'armi, ispezionando una caverna che funge da deposito di ordigni, Montalbano scopre un passaggio che conduce a un'altra grotta, e qui trova due cadaveri: un ragazzo e una ragazza uccisi cinquant'anni prima.
Obbedendo all'istinto prepotente che lo spinge a ricercare una verità sbiadita e forse ormai inafferrabile, il commissario Montalbano inizia un'indagine improbabile, che cerca di ricostruire vicende apparentemente non destinate ad approdare in un'aula di tribunale.

Source: Amazon - January 11, 2022

I enjoy the Inspector Montalbano series. Camilleri does an excellent job describing the setting of Sicily and the Italian culture. The mafia is present, but does not dominate the story. This one lost a star from me because there was too much going on in the story. I'm sure this is an accurate depiction of a police officer's life, but I lost the main thread of the story which was the 50 year old bodies found in a cave. The other threadlines were interesting, but the main story did get a little lost in the kerfluffle. However, I love the ending and how the main story was resolved. Still an excellent read. ( )

Inspector Montalbano is contacted by a notorious criminal, who wants to surrender; however, on his way to prison, he is mortally wounded and tells Montalbano about a cache of weapons hidden in a cave. Montalbano discovers a hidden chamber with two long dead bodies and solves the murder of two star-crossed lovers. ( )

Original, gritty, course. ( )

The second in the series has Montalbano becoming obsessed with finding out what happened to two bodies discovered in a cave. Livia, his girl-friend, is already angry with him due to his paying so much attention to his case, a theme that present in their relationship over a long period of time. The people had been killed during the war, fifty years earlier, and it seems unlikely that he'll discover the facts. He does, of course. ( )

Sicily, law-enforcement, murder, murder-investigation, mafia, historical-novel, language, friendship*****

Montalbano is the chief detective in his police district and is certainly not perfect. He has a lot of friends of varying ages and not all of them are on the force. He also has problems with his long time and long distance relationship and this does factor into the story. An old friend puts him in touch with an old mafioso who has things that he needs Montalbano's help with. Things go wrong when too many departments get involved but information is shared that there is a large cache of illegal weapons hidden in a cave. The whole tale is convoluted and very interesting.
Grover Gardner seems to have a good handle on how to present each character and all the mischief. ( )

An enjoyable excursion through a labyrinthine set of investigations, with murders past and present. ( )

Rude, crude and funny. My husband loves it. THAT'S a recommendation.
(a mystery with endnotes? Yes!) ( )

An illegal arms deal gone bad leads Inspector Montalbano to a town where most roads leading away from it dead end. But there is the tunnel that was supposed to have been a new road, but fell through & ended up being sealed shut and all but forgotten...

Could the now sealed tunnel/cave be hiding a secret? Once opened, Inspector Montalbano comes across another sealed chamber. In it on a well made rug is the remains of two lovers embraced in death, a bowl of coins, a jug of water, & forming a point of a triangle a terra-cotta dog.

Thus Montalbano discusses the case w/ a long-time friend & the friend's wife, who just happens to have had a friend who disappeared at the same time the autopsy reveals that the lovers died....

Very interesting, many twists & turn with a satisfying conclusion along w/ wonderful descriptions of Italian meals I could dream of eating....

The author needs publish a cookbook w/ photos! ( )

Da Buch war ein Zufallsfund im Urlaubshotel in Playitas/Fuerteventura. Dort stand es im Regal mit zu verschenkenden Büchern.

Schreibstil ist gut und der Kommissar ist ein interessanter Mann.
Sehr leckere Beschreibungen des süditalienischen Essens.

Allerdings bin ich nicht ganz zufrieden.
1. Es bleibt mir unklar, warum der Kommissar so ein Damen-Magnet ist.
2. Es gibt sehr viele Zufälle, die den Fall weiter bringen. Das ist geschummelt! ( )

Digital audio narrated by Grover Gardner

Book two in the Inspector Montalbano series has him solving a 50-year-old crime. The dying words of one man lead the detective to a secret grotto in the mountains, where the remains of two young lovers lie in an embrace, watched over by a large terra-cotta dog. As he works to solve this old mystery, which has him delving into the island’s past and the horrors of World War II, he also has to deal with modern crime wave, shoot-outs, betrayals, a complicated love life and the politics of the police department.

Camilleri populates the novel with an assortment of colorful characters, from mafioso crime bosses, to intimidated shop owners, to faithful partners on the police force and a bevy of beauties that complicate Montalbano’s life.

Montalbano himself is a wonderful lead character. He doesn’t suffer fools gladly, nor sweat the small stuff. He’s intelligent, a loyal friend and is always ready to find the humor in a situation, no matter how dire.

This particular plot had me somewhat confused given the historical nature of the central mystery. But it was interesting, engaging and entertaining. I’ll keep reading the series.

Grover Gardner does a fine job performing the audios. He really brings these characters to life, and even does a passable job of voicing the female characters.

A few pages of notes at the end of the text version explain the various references, historical and modern, the Italian police / military / political system as well as the exchange rate of lira to US dollars (at least at the time the novel is written). Very helpful to this reader! This is not included in the audio version. ( )

Better than book 1 but not entranced with Inspector character. Don't know how all story lines connect. Didn't engross me and therefore didn't pay attention to all the details. ( )

Those Venice detective stories, almost homey, set the bar for Italian mystery, with locales more alive than bodies in a canal, of course, but also more alive than most people in its pages.

Terra Cotta Dog is a Sicilian detective story. Attitude and atmosphere predominate, without the specifics of the each corner and bridge. The atmosphere is hot and dry and polluted with crime. The attitude is one of blood feud pride. Nothing new in these stereotypes.

I am not sure I want to visit Sicily after the book, except for the food--the book creates a running menu that would come in handy.

Montalbano seems human, at first, when on the trail of some Mafioso, but then reveals himself as such an arrogant ass that you want to kick him a time or two, not read him. He is not a compassionate northerner like Brunetti.

The mafia always wins of, course. But Montalbano has his moments. Crime to him is a puzzle for his pleasure to play with. Justice, apparently, does not apply in that part of the world. Maybe nowhere anymore, come to think of it. See what reading this book has done to me. Be careful.
( )

Camilleri come al solito vince sulla caratterizzazione dei personaggi. Purtroppo la/le trama/e qui sono abbastanza mal sviluppate: il delitto di mafia dopo una rapida pseudo-risoluzione si perde quasi nel nulla salvo rispuntare qua e la' ogni tanto senza logica, la storia degli innamorati e la sua risoluzione invece sono un pelo inverosimili. Oltre a questo nel complesso entrambe non lasciano poi molto il desiderio di sapere come vanno a finire. ( )

A good story with lots of laughs. Grover Gardner is a wonderful reader. A clever mystery. As always the food descriptions make me hungry. ( )

Another great mystery from Camilleri featuring Commissario Montalbano who comes to an agreement with mafioso Tano the Greek. Their meeting precipitates a much bigger investigation than anyone could imagine. My only complaint about Camilleri's writing is that the profanities come across as even more crude than they are generally. I wonder if this is because of the translation or if his characters are just as vulgar in Italian. I'm inclined toward the fault lying with the translation. ( )

I love the Montalbano books, probably even more than I love the TV series, possibly because of the books extra details about his eating habits. Whilst I enjoyed this one, I was a little disappointed, feeling it lost its way a few times in the intricacies of the plot. But it certainly won't put me off reading some more. ( )

2nd in the series. Salzu gets a tip-off that a notorious gangster wants a quite retirement, and will allow himself to be daringly arrested. However the mafia don't take this quietly and Salzu is injured in the following revenge attack. The gangsters last words to him are a final bit of malice against his former masters, but reveal an even deeper mystery to Salzu. He's discovered a cave with ancient bodies and a terracotta dog entombed within. Who were they when did they die?and Why? WHat's the significance of the dog?

As he recuperates with the attentions of his girlfriend, not quite mistress and female best friend, he spends his time interviewing anybody who'd have known the town at the time of the 2nd world war. This obviously is select group of older people with various quirks and personalities.

Not very sure where this was going, little in the way of crime or police work seems to happen, but it did expand a bit on Salzu's personality and set up the various people whom he's going to be interacting with in the next books (until they too get killed off or maybe just move away). ( )

While this was a fairly unchallenging and quick read I didn't enjoy it as much as The Shape of Water. I don't know if it's a case of something being lost in translation or if after watching the tv series I have an image of what the characters should be like and in the book they are different, I found Montalbano quite irritating in this book. ( )

First, my compliments to Stephen Sartarelli on his translation and notes compiled for the reader to understand every nuance of Camilleri's written word.
Some say that the pace of the book is slow, but, I enjoyed this differing flavor on a detective novel. Camilleri is able to immerse us in the world of Inspector Montalbano: his love and enjoyment of mediterranean food coupled with a detailed description of the sea and the warm and rocky Sicilian geography. With a mix of humor, cynicism, compassion, and love of good food, Montalbano goes into battle against the powerful and the corrupt who are determined to block his path.
This is a"delicious" discovery for mystery afficionados and fiction lovers. ( )

More good Montalbano stuff : here he investigates a case from 50 years before. As usual, it's entertaining, funny in places and well-conceived. Enjoyable and recommended. ( )

The Terracotta Dog by Andrea Camilleri is the second entry in the Inspector Montalbano Mystery series and will awaken your taste buds, tickle your funny bone and provide an interesting puzzle for the Inspector. The terracotta dog mentioned in the title is a life-size statue that is found in a cave, watching over the corpses of two entwined bodies that date back fifty years. The front half of the cave has been in current use by the Mafia as a weapon storehouse, but these corpses intrigue the Inspector and he decides to solve their mystery.

This second book in the series continues to bring Sicily to life. The atmosphere is created by vivid descriptions of the scenery, the lively population, the politics and strong mafia influence and, above all by the smell and tastes of the food. Montalbano himself reveals a little more of his sardonic and slightly sly personality and all of this combines to make these book such great fun and great reads.

The translation captures the rhythm and cadence of Sicily, the author gives us well drawn, spirited characters and great dialogue. The best part, for me, is that this is only book number two, leaving me a long list of Montalbano mysteries to discover. ( )