My third Inspector Montalbano mystery. I previously read The Terra-Cotta Dog and The Voice of the Violin. This is a police procedural translated from the Italian.

ItÂ’s a fun read as the Inspector is known for his love of good food both at a local (Sicilian) trattoria and that cooked for him by his maid/cook. His excessive hours and his obsession with his cases tries the patience of his woman friend, so the relationship in on again/off again. He writes letters to himself that help the reader follow the twists and turns of the case. He hates bureaucracy and s pulling the chain of his idiot superiors as much as they pulling his.



His underlings speak dialect that sounds almost a Sicilian Brooklyn accent that can get annoying at times. “Says Gasparino Manzella was getting on ‘is noives since it was rilly hot ‘n all an’ a fly was walkin on ‘is head which rilly bugged ‘im an’ so he shot ‘im.”

The story starts on a humorous note when his woman friend asks him to find a rental vacation home for her friends. Montalbano finds what looks a great place for the younger couple with a young boy but it is soon invaded by roaches, then mice, then spiders. The couple starts to believe that the house is cursed. Then their boy disappears after sliding down a hole into a hidden basement apartment. Montalbano find the missing boy and is momentarily the hero until he announces that there is a trunk down there with a decomposed body in it! Needless to say, their vacation ends.

The body is that of a 16-year old girl who went missing six years ago. The hidden basement is simply the way things were done in Sicily – building a big home with a buried basement saves time and money due to complex building codes, permits and taxes. It’s much easier to hide it and dig it up later – mea culpa. The construction crew, the foreman, the mafia-affiliated contractor all become suspects. All are reluctantly dragged in for interviews, one by one, by Montalbano and his crew.

Meanwhile, while toying with the mafia-affiliated contractor, Montalbano becomes suspicious of a death in an unrelated case. It looks an Arab construction worker, an illegal immigrant, fell off an unprotected scaffold at a work site and the crew covered up their responsibility in his death by installing railings after the fact and dousing his clothing with alcohol to make it appear he was drunk. This incident provides a second case that the InspectorÂ’s department is working simultaneously.

It turns out that the deceased girl had a twin sister. The Inspector interviews her – she’s 22 years old and drop-dead gorgeous. Suddenly she’s in full pursuit of Montalbano (who’s 55) and whose woman friend took off on her own vacation. Is this simply the fantasy of a 55-year old man? (Or the author, 81 at the time this book was written.) But it turns out that her pursuit of the Inspector is tied in with the plot and provides a surprising and shocking twist at the end of the book.



A good story with a lot of local color of Sicily. And you have to love the mouth-watering food scattered throughout the book: antipasto di mare; passuluna olives, calamari salad and pappanozza (spiced onions and potatoes in a mash), and fine wines. (There are sites featuring recipes from the Montalbano series on both Wordpress and Pinterest)



The author just died this year (2019) at age 94. He was best known for this Inspector Montalbano series, I think twenty-six in all, although some of the most recent ones do not yet appear to have been translated into English. The stories were made into a popular TV series in Italy. His hometown, featured under a fictitious name in his novels, has officially appended that name to attract tourists. (See photo)

Photo of the author's hometown, Porto Empedocle -Vigata from grandangoloagrigento.it
Statue in honor of the author in his hometown from infoagrigento.it
Pappanozza from montalbanosfood.files.wordpress.com


detective-stories italian-authors murder-mystery ...more119 s Dave SchaafsmaAuthor 6 books31.8k

The opening of this, the tenth in the series featuring the cynical Inspector Salvo Montalbano, set in Sicily, is at a seaside rental Salvo and his girlfriend Livia are hosting for their friends Laura, her husband, and their three-year-old son, who falls down a well. Laura is convinced the place is haunted, as they are besieged by cockroaches, and then this well incident, and then other stuff that happens throughout the book. Dark magic? Salvo saves the boy, and while digging finds an illegal apartment under their rental property. With two corpses in it, of a mason and a 16-year-old girl. Livia and Laura and the gang are disgusted to learn Salvo has for a day not informed them that he had discovered the corpse (they're on a vacation!), so they leave.

Salvo's wild goose chase involves the identical twin of this girl, who is now 22, and all men in the book seem to be crazy about her. I was not initially pleased with the lust all of the men direct toward this young woman (though Salvo remains chaste [Livia!]), but over time I sort of forgive Camilleri for his depiction of this woman as "hot," (generating some of that August heat) who has, after all, lost her sister (okay, though six years ago, but still), as we observe Salvo, with the help of this twin, solves the crime. The woman has some deep psychic identical-twin connection to her dead sister; at the point of death, she knew it was happening, felt the terror. Maybe three and half stars, maybe a little more for this police procedural, though the story has some sensational aspects to it that will make it memorable.

August is always hot, and it was a blast furnace in this novel, set in hot August Sicily, and almost everywhere on the planet. Then, yeah, this sort of dark heat, the persistent lust in the book for this young woman (who invites it). It's a bit steamy, yep.

The appendix mentions Camilleri's efforts to support the victims of Mafia violence, political work he admires in other authors, though he isn't all that political in this series (except taking on the mafia, which is a big deal, of course).mystery-detective-thriller24 s Dagio_maya 979 297

“Voliva annarci prima, ma quanno niscì dalla porta di casa vinni assugliato da una tali vampata di caluri che sinni trasì nuovamente 'n casa. Si spogliò, inchì la vasca da bagno d'acqua fridda e ci stetti dintra un'orata.”

Questo focoso romanzo di Camilleri è consigliato per le letture autunnali/invernali.
E’ dunque estate tra queste pagine e il caldo imperversa senza pietà per nessuno.
Un bambino sparisce nella villetta di vacanza degli amici di Livia dando avvio mistero da risolvere. Sullo sfondo la pesante scenografia delle logiche mafiose, dellÂ’abusivismo e dello sfruttamento degli immigrati nei cantieri.
Tanta carne al fuoco (“ “Foco diavolisco è!”) per passare piacevolmente in lettura qualche ”orata”.

Ritrovo Montalbano dopo circa vent’anni ed è con piacere riscoprire che non ci sono tradimenti di sorta:
Vigàta è sempre lì con Fazio, il mitico Catarella (di pirsona pirsonalmenti”) e la trattoria da Enzo;
Marinella pure con la nota casa del commissario proprio vicino al mare, la solita verandina e poi i piatti speciali di Adelinache invadono i ripiani del frigoriferoÂ…
Non fa tanto piacere ritrovare l’antartica Livia: é un vero peccato che Montalbano non abbia trovato di meglio!
Insomma tutto appare immutato.
Poi scopro, però, che gli anni non sono passati solo per me.
E se entrerete in questa vampa scoprirete che Montalbano certamente non cede ma qualcosa scricchiola:

” Mi capita che sono addivintato vecchio - pinsò amaro il commissario - e voglio arrivare presto a concludere un'indagine che mi pisa.”
gialla italiana16 s Tim Orfanos353 37

???? ?? ??? ?????????? ??? '?????????????' ?????? ??? ?????????, ?? ????? ??? ?????? ?? ??????????, ???????? ?? ???????? ??? ?????????? ??????? ???? ?????? ????????? ?? ??? ?????? ?? ?????? ??? ????????? ??? ??? ??????????? ??? ???????? ??? ?? ??????? ??? ??????????. ?? 1? ????? ???????????? ???? ????? ??? ???????????? ???????? ??????, ??? ???????? ??? ??? ????? ??? ?? ?????????? ?????? ??? ?????????.

?? ???, ????, ??????? ?????? ??? ?????????????? ????? ??????? ?????????????? ?????? ??? 2? ????? ??? ????????? '????????', ???? ??? ?? ???? ?????????? ????? ??? ?????????? ?????????? ???? ????????? ??? ??? ?????????????? ?????????? ??? ???????????. ??????? ??? ?? ??? ????? ??? ???????, ????????? ?? ??????????? ?????????, ???? ????? ????. ?? ?????????? ??? ????????? ?? '?????????' ???? ?????????, ???? ?? ???? ?? ?????????? ?? ?? 1? ?????? ??? ?????? '?? ????? ??? ?????' ??? ???? ????????.....

??????????: 3,2/5 ? 6,4/10.adventure black-humour boring-books ...more16 s Lyn Elliott745 209

I whizzed through this in about three hours enjoying an easy read. By chance the only other book i can remember reading in this series was the first one, just a week ago. The Montalbano character hadn't fully taken shape in the first book, but he has here and he feels a bit over-worked to me. And the secondary police characters seem to have become more stereotypes, perhaps as a consequence of the television series.
Perhaps writerly fatigue set in with the endless repetition of the enervating effects of high summer heat in Sicily. Some parts of the story telling were unbelievable - the lack of a fan anywhere in the police station or any one's home. If you live in a climate where summer heat goes over 40 degrees C, you have fans around somewhere to haul out when the heat goes up. It's not just a short term demand with an acute lack of supply.
Do I sound a bit grumpy? It's just been 38 degrees here and is going to be around the 40s for the rest of the week. And this is only mid December. It is an El Niño year and we know it will be a bad summer. So the fans are out of storage and the hot weather daily regime of closing and opening windows and doors is well and truly underway.crime italy11 s Simona B909 3,082

3.5

While I love classic detective fiction because it focuses entirely on the puzzle, I love Montalbano precisely because he is so inextricably involved with every crime he investigates, with every witness he questions and every crime scene he inspects. So, while La vampa d'agosto expands on Montalbano's personal demons (specifically his anxiety about growing old), I think it leaves unanswered more questions than usual as regards the crime, and even though I understand that the details I'm referring to (what happened to Ralf on that train, for instance) are entirely incidental, this feeling of incompleteness is somewhat annoying.2000-present in-italian mystery-and-crime9 s Juan Nalerio555 123

Para Salamandra es la décima entrega, según mi registro es la decimotercera ya que cuento los libros de relatos que la misma editorial ha publicado antes de este tomo.

Más allá de que numeral sea, esta novela trae nuevamente el cruce de policial negro con cierto grado de humor. Buenos diálogos y los personajes de siempre de la mano de Camilleri. Si te gusta la serie dale para adelante, sino hay policiales mejores.9 s María Alcaide 104 181

Always a pleasure to read a Moltabano adventure by the great (and much missed already) Andrea Camilleri (RIP). There will be many more this summer! :)2019 noir-thriller-police-mistery-novel8 s Masteatro505 82

La Sicilia asfixiante del mes de agosto, el refugio de mar, la buena comida y la compañía del comisario Montalbano. Siempre socarrón, siempre irónico, siempre entrañable. Un lugar al que acudir cuando no sabemos qué leer.leídos-en-20208 s A.K. KulshreshthAuthor 8 books73

It was a huge relief to return to the world of Montalbano after reading a couple of thrillers that didn't work for me. The world that Camilleri has created is hardly an idyllic one -- there's a lot of gore -- but we get a masterfully curated view with a gentle, mocking voice. I heard this on Libby and it was a great performance. As always, one has to salute the translator for taking Catarella's speech and many other idiosyncrasies to the world outside Italy. Of course, these days I can't read or hear a Montalbano book without imagining the superb TV show.

Montalbano is ageing, but he continues to eat well, treat bureaucracy with the scorn it deserves, struggle with his girlfriend... and be a great policeman, though he expresses doubts about his faculties quite often in this story. On the subject of story, it's probably no secret that story isn't Mr. Camilleri's strong point. There are some books that I read in which the coincidences were humongous and some additional details get tossed in at the last minute. In August Heat, one could be forgiven for wondering why some obvious angles weren't explored much earlier... But the thing to do for Montalbano fans seems to be to continue to overlook minor matters of detail and soak in the wonderful world of this series.

I was happy to note that I figured the reference in the book to Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö of The Laughing Policeman fame. This review, from a blog that seems very interesting makes an interesting point about Camilleri being a successor to Sciascia. I don't fully agree but that's not the point.

I slowed down the speed to make this last longer.around-the-world6 s Ellie Spencer (catching up from hiatus)280 344

I adored Andrea CamilleriÂ’s writing in this book. It showed a side of inspector Montalbano that I havenÂ’t seen in the previous works.
The description of the heat had me feeling ready for summer. There was no plot twist that made this book a staple for me. Instead it was written beautifully from start to finish. I didnÂ’t want to put it down! 6 s Anna [Floanne]583 286

Credo che questo sia uno dei migliori capitoli della saga che ho letto finora. In una Vigàta bruciata dal caldo, Montalbano si trova suo malgrado a scoprire il cadavere di una giovane uccisa molti anni prima in un villino abusivo. Ne deriva un’indagine difficile, che lo farà sudare ben più di sette camicie, complici anche una canicola insopportabile e una bellissima ragazza. Sempre arguto e diretto nella sua critica al malcostume diffuso, in cui l’abusivismo edilizio va a braccetto con collusioni mafiose a tutti i livelli, il commissario deve scontrarsi però anche con la propria età che avanza e che sembra, a tratti, annebbiarne le capacità deduttive. Alla fine, ne esce sfinito, umiliato ma anche tremendamente umano.
Voto: 4,5 stelle
_italia crime-noir-mystery6 s Pablo B.183 4

Muy buena historia de Moltalbano, como siempre. Viví en carne propia el calor siciliano. Voy por la mitad de los libros del comisario y la verdad es que no quiero terminarlos nunca. montalbano5 s Dave RileyAuthor 2 books12

Although I had seen the television version of this novel -- and I've watched all of the Montalbano TV series -- it is not the same as experiencing Camilleri up close and first hand in another superb translation by Stephen Sartarelli.

So much of what you get from Montalbano is the thinking stuff that goes on in the written narrative and Salvo's head, such that the plot serves as a bridge to hold these musings aloft. The TV adaptions although excellent do not capture that rich and very Sicilian nuance nor the intricacies of the character interactions.

You have to embrace the journey, casually partaken as it may seem, and regret that it has to end at the novel's conclusion. With Montalbano the chronology nonetheless is important as you share the storyline and characters from book to book so that the microcosm of Vigata is built up in culture, cuisine, politics, stone and cement.

And with each outing, the character of Salvo Montalbano is deepened and enriched.

Fortunately I still have a few in the series to look forward to reading. There are 17 novels with maybe 3 still waiting to be published in English translation.

There is a very good review of Camillieri and his work here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2006/...crime-fiction5 s DeAnna KnipplingAuthor 160 books270

A young brat, the son of two of Livia's friends, disappears on vacation. In finding the kid, Montalbano opens up a bigger can of worms than he anticipated: a hidden house, a dead body wrapped in plastic, a corrupt building contractor...

This one shakes things up a bit. The normal Montalbano plot is that there are two cases that turn out to be interrelated by some weird connection. This is more of a noir plot, where the trail of clues leads deeper and deeper into a maze, until finally the center is reached. An interesting shakeup. I think this will end up being one of my favorites.

Note: I'm listening to this series on audio, which is freaking FANTASTIC. If you're not a mystery reader but want the perfect "short attention span" audiobooks, try these.4 s Silvia104 3

Un poliziesco che scava, oltre che nella società nei territori e nella politica siciliana, anche nel carattere e nei sentimenti del protagonista: qui infatti troviamo un Montalbano anche fragile. Chapoue a Camilleri.gialli4 s María (NefertitiQueen)454 26

Hoy me viene muy bien hablar de esta novela de Camilleri. Porque ha sido y sigue siendo un día de un calor asfixiante, y me ha recordado al que pasan los protagonistas en esta nueva aventura del Comisario Montalbano. Siempre disfruto con la lectura de estas novelas, llenas de intriga, risas, investigaciones y el humor sarcástico de Montalbano. En esta ocasión, una trama muy interesante al descubrirse un cadáver en un lugar impensable. Y como siempre, al lado del Comisario, los demás compañeros de la comisaría de Vigàta.4 s Raven752 220

ItÂ’s August in Sicily and the heat is on Inspector Salvo Montalbano in more ways than one.? ?Grappling with the brutal murder of a young girl,? ?a turbulent love life,? ?and a fruitless search for the last electric fan in town,? ?the indomitable Montalbano approaches every situation with his customary dry wit and cynicism.? ?Camilleri underpins the story with caustic sideswipes at the political and criminal elements of Sicilian society,? ?which always make his books a cut above the average crime thriller.? ?A brilliant blackly comic read with an all too human protagonist? ?-? ?a welcome addition to an excellent series.3 s Xenia Germeni317 37

??????????, ?????????? ??? ?? ???? ???? ?????....????????, ?????, ?????, ???, ???????? ??? ???? ??????????? ?????...(?????? ???? ????? ???? ?? ?????????? ?????...). ?? ???? ???????? ??? ?????? ?????? ???????...????????? ?? ??? ??? ?? ?? ????????? ???!3 s Calzean2,661 1 follower

The first quarter of this book saw the good Inspector finding a summer rental house of a friend of his girlfriend, then discovering a dead body in the rented house. The story didn't really grab me, but the ending involving the revenge of a femme fatale saved the book.author-italy crime-thriller-mystery culture-italy3 s Elizabeth1,619 7

One of his absolute best!italy mysteries police-procedural3 s Emily562 53

?? ??? ??????? ??? ?????? ??? ????????, ? ????????? ??????????? ???????? ?? ??????????? ??? ?????? ??????????????? ??? ?? ?????? ??? ???????? ?????? ??? ?? ?????? ?????????? ??? ???????????? ??????.
???? ??????? ???? ???? ???????????? ?? ?????? ?? ?????????????? ???????? ??? ???????? ??????? ??? ???????. ????? ?? ??? ??????? ?????, ??? ?????????????? ?????? ???? ??????? ??? ????? ??? ???? ??????????? ????? ??? 55 ???.
???????????? ???? ?????? ?????? ?? ??????? ??? ?? ???????? ?????????? ??? ????????? ?? ???? ?????? ??? ?????????. ????? ??? ? ??????????? ?????? ????? ???? ??????????. ??? ?? ????? ???????????.
?? ??? ?? ?????? ??? ????????? ??????? ????? ? ????? ??? ??? ??? ????????? ????. ??? ?????? ???? ?? ????????? ?????? ??????? ??? ???? ????????? ??????? ??? ?????????? ?? ????? ??? ?????, ???? ? ????????, ???? ????? ??????????? ????????? ?? ??????.
??????? ? ??????? ?????????.2017-books audio-book cleaning-hard-disc2 s Trish2,533 38

Having just read one of the Martin Beck books, the reference to Montalbano reading ones of the same on page 115 of this August Heat made me appreciate that actually, there are a lot of similarities between the two series. Notably, the generally honest detective trying to do his job in spite of the social conditions around him, and backed up by a regular ensemble of other detectives. Albeit that the Montalbano books have a lot more dry humour to them. I wonder why I'd never made the connection before.crime-mystery-humor crime-procedural zsrc-2018-1-spring1 Patricia G.284 20

Me encanta el comisario Montalbano. Esta novela se lee en un suspiro, las hojas vuelan, no puedes parar de leer para averiguar quién es el asesino. Una delicia. La recomiendo muchísimo. 2 s Kostas Kanellopoulos558 29

Body heat also for inspectore Montalbano2 s Andreas Schmidt737 6

Sempre il solito Camilleri
Camilleri è un buon romanziere, anche se per inciso mi domando come si riesca a tradurlo in inglese (non oso immaginare il "lost in translation" dal siciliano all'inglese). Anche se alla fine ogni romanzo è sempre lo stesso, il personaggio di Montalbano è diventato leggenda, con la sua donna Livia che rompe i cabasisi per ogni minchiata che succede (in questo romanzo perché Montalbano le aveva "promesso" che non ci sarebbero stati omicidi in agosto) con lo stereotipo dell'irrazionalità femminile. Il solito cadavere, la solita fìmmina e lo sciauro che appresso si porta; ogni tanto se ne esce con qualcosa di "paranormale" (qui per esempio la gemella che ha delle "visioni" di ciò che è accaduto all'altra, e via discorrendo). Il solito romanzo di Camilleri. Niente di più.2 s Effie340 77

B.R.A.CE. 2018 ??? ?????? ??? ??????????????? ????? ??? ????? ?????? ?? ???????????

4+brace20182 s David Highton3,147 17

Another great story in the Montalbano series, so well written the heat nearly steams off the page. Montalbano has to solve a murder when a body is discovered six years after being left in a trunk. Wry humour throughout the story with a little twist at the end.2 s Mark1,442 154

Montalbano has to find a holiday home for the friends of his beloved Livia and manages to find one who seems to be perfect at first sight. After a plague of cockroaches, spiders and then mice the house can be considered to be less perfect. When the son of the couple disappears and is found again by Montalbano in an illegal apartment build underneath the existing house there seems to be the general idea that this could be very well the last straw.
It is only when it becomes apparent that the unknown apartment also contains a dead body that Livia and her friends leave immediately, she being convinced that Montalbano knew this before he told her. And he also promised to spend time as it rarely happens that anybody is going to commit murder in the August heat, way to hot. And the Inspector was right since the murder turns out to have been committed in October 6 years earlier.
Livia is off on Montalbano who gets more attention from the 22 year old twin sister of the victim than he knows what to do with.

Another colourful and food filled mystery with the usual suspects playing their parts towards a solution in this unsolved missing persons case that turns out to be a murder case.

Another enjoyable tour de force by Camilleri who without a doubt has created a lovely pallet of characters which whom he paints some great stories. 2021 camilleri montalbano ...more2 s JohnAuthor 326 books174

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