Monday, September 7, 2009

BOOK: Patience of the Spider by Andrea Camilleri

The Patience of the Spider by Andrea Camilleri, 244 pages
Book number 8 in the Inspector Montalbano Mystery series

Celebrate the Author Challenge

Continuing Series Review Questions:

Give a brief summary of the book:
Inspector Salvo Montalbano is recovering from the shoulder gunshot injury suffered at the end of the last book, but is called in to help coordinate the investigation into the kidnapping of a college girl. Livia is living with him during his convalescence.

Likes?
The food descriptions as usual make me hungry; the end notes that translator Stephen Sartarelli includes to explain phrases or customs or Italian cultural references are a fun part of the book; Sargent Catarella who would do anything for Montalbano and continually mangles the language is a great supporting comedic character.

Dislikes?
The mystery was pretty obvious this time, or at least I had a pretty good idea what had happened. Of course I didn't have all the details figured out, so I still enjoyed reading to discover how I was right or wrong.

Additional Thoughts on the Series:
This was book number eight in the series. Only 9 and 10 have already been translated into English, but they are written up to 14 in Italian. Translator Stephen Sartorelli does a wonderful job. I read an interview he did where he explained some of his process and why he enjoys Camilleri's work and words.



Andrea Camilleri was born September 6, 1925. I wrote a profile for Weekly Geeks about Camilleri as the author I chose.