The Track of Sand

September 20, 2010
At the start of bestseller Camilleri's robust 12th Inspector Montalbano mystery (after 2009's The Wings of the Sphinx), the Sicilian inspector looks out his window and sees the carcass of a horse on the beach. The animal, he discovers, has been bludgeoned to death. As he turns his back to phone in the crime, the horse vanishes, leaving a track in the sand. Was the horse slaughtered for its meat by illegal immigrants? Is someone trying to send a message to the owner? Or is the Mafia edging its way into the racing industry? The repeated vandalizing of Montalbano's home and a Mafia thug's murder complicate the investigation. The street-smart inspector takes a broadly comic trip to the racetrack in an effort to link all these events together. While convoluted plotting and byzantine complexities distract, Montalbano uses some creative chicanery and tweaking of the law to provide a dramatic and satisfying conclusion.

October 1, 2010

Not even his home is safe from repeated violation in Chief Inspector Salvo Montalbano's latest case.

Awakening from unpleasant dreams, Chief Inspector Montalbano discovers a dead horse lying on the beach outside his house in Marinella. The poor animal has clearly run quite a distance from the spot where it was attacked. But why would someone batter a horse with iron bars and then, while the investigating officers were having coffee, come back to steal the carcass? Rachele Esterman, who's convinced the horse is her missing sorrel Super, can't answer either question. Neither can Saverio Lo Duca, the wealthy friend who'd been boarding Super during her visit, and whose thoroughbred Rudy has also vanished. Which of the two horses collapsed outside Montalbano's house, and how can he tell for sure? The quest for answers will lead him to a society fundraiser at Fiacca, where he's squired by Rachele's friend Ingrid Sjostrom—to a stable where Rachele expresses her eagerness to tarry with her interrogator; to a lonely road in Spinoccia, where mafia executioners have dumped a human corpse just as hard to identify as the horse; and back to his own home, where thieves break in twice, once to steal a watch, the second time to return it.

Unlike Donna Leon's Venice, with its constant drip-drip-drip of official corruption, Camilleri's Sicily has long since surrendered to despairing ennui. Suave, resourceful Montalbano (The Wings of the Sphinx, 2010, etc.) is both its perfect expression and its best hope for an antidote.

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November 15, 2010
Life-loving, pasta-inhaling Inspector Salvo Montalbano, the embattled Sicilian policeman, has much to worry about, from his growing bald spot to his ever-tottering relationship with the demanding Livia to the steadily more vicious crime he must confront, but even he is surprised to see a dead horse on the sand when he looks out his window one morning (admittedly, he had been dreaming about horses, though the horse he was riding was a woman). From this peculiar equine beginning, Montalbano soon finds himself embroiled in a puzzling case that involves horse stealing, race fixing, and murder. Along the way, of course, there is plenty of time for lunch, though Montalbanos ability to concentrate on his food is impeded by two women who seem more than willing to fill the gap created by Livias absence. This series is distinguished by Camilleris remarkable feel for tragicomedy, expertly mixing light and dark in the course of producing novels that are both comforting and disturbing. Here he leans a bit more toward the light side, but fans wont mind a little extra comfort one bit.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)