Death at Sea

Montalbano’s Early Cases

Paperback, 273 pages

English (in translation from Italian) language

Published Sept. 4, 2018 by Penguin.

ISBN:
9780143108818
3 stars (1 review)

Eight short stories about Inspector Montalbano and his crew.

1 edition

It was... okay?

3 stars

I feel as though I ought to have enjoyed these little police mysteries more, given how famous and well-regarded the author and the character are.

I read the first story and half of the second a while back, but bogged down and put it aside. Today I picked it up again, more determined, and read from the beginning of the second story all the way through. It wasn't bad?

These are simple crime mysteries with a homey feel; one is clearly supposed to like Inspector Montalbano and his setting: the general feel of small-city Sicily, the housekeeper who cooks so well, the young girlfriend from Genoa whom the housekeeper dislikes, the various foods and drinks that are so often and lovingly mentioned, the colleague that knows the history of every attractive woman in town, the eccentric unreliable secretary or something at the station who talks in a barely comprehensible accent …