The Overnight Kidnapper

December 1, 2018
Beleaguered Inspector Montalbano and his ragtag Sicilian force probe a twisty arson case and pursue a serial kidnapper with a surpassingly odd M.O.It's a particularly chaotic morning for Montalbano. An aggressive fly awakens him very early from a sound sleep, he confronts a pair of brawling men in the street and is misidentified as a miscreant, and he returns home to an intruder knocked out by his housekeeper with a frying pan--all before breakfast. The strangeness continues at his favorite trattoria, where owner Enzo's niece Michela reports having been kidnapped and shoved into a car trunk late the previous evening but released without being robbed or harmed in any way. When finally Montalbano arrives at the station, he learns that there was another identical abduction. The only similarity seems to be that both victims work at a bank. Montalbano is just beginning to unravel these crimes when another pops up: a fire at the electronics store of Marcello Di Carlo, who's gone missing after an island vacation during which he reportedly fell in love. All that seems to be missing from his personal effects are his computer and photos of the young woman he met on vacation, though there are stacks of photos of many other women from Di Carlo's recent dating past. Both cases have many twists, with both murder and a mummy on the Montalbano menu.Another wry, amiable procedural from the prolific Camilleri (A Nest of Vipers, 2017, etc.), whose unflappably put-upon hero soldiers on no matter how absurd the crime or aggravating the situation.

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February 1, 2019

Insp. Salvo Montalbano arrives at work late one morning, after his attempt to break up a fight ends in all three men, including Montalbano, being arrested by the carabinieri. Once at work, he learns of a kidnapping in which a woman was abducted, drugged, and released unharmed the next morning. Then the same thing happens a second time, with another woman. Both victims are in their 30s and work at banks. When a third kidnapping turns violent, bankers everywhere start to worry. However, Montalbano and his team have another case on their hands. This one is arson, and the owner of the shop, Marcello Di Carlo, has disappeared. Montalbano is shrewd enough to find a connection between Di Carlo's vanishing and the unusual abductions. Camilleri's sequel to The Pyramid of Mud, with its descriptions of Sicilian politics, customs, and food, has enough humor involving the office staff at the police department to be a Sicilian cousin of Bill Crider's "Sheriff Dan Rhodes" mysteries. VERDICT Armchair travelers who enjoy Cay Rademacher's police procedurals set in Provence, France, or Jeffrey Siger's Greece-set crime novels may want to venture to Sicily.--Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN

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February 1, 2019
The New York Times best-selling Commissario Salvo Montalbano series marks 25 years of continuous publication with the release of this twenty-fifth entry (after Death at Sea, 2018), and it is a sterling example of the universal appeal that has led the series to be translated into 32 languages. As always, Camilleri works in plenty of Sicilian color and many mentions of delectable local cuisine, best of which just might be the pastry trays Montalbano uses to persuade pathologist Dr. Pasquano to give his undivided attention to the case at hand. After being hauled in by the Carabinieri (interagency turf battles are a series staple) for alleged brawling on the beach, Montalbano is confronted with an extremely puzzling crime. Female bank employees are being abducted, drugged, and then released unharmed a few hours later. An incident of arson and a missing store owner become oddly intertwined with the kidnappings, which need to be resolved before not only general panic, but also bank panic, sets in. Recommend to readers looking for a sure-bet international mystery.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)