The Potter's Field (Inspector Montalbano Series #13)

by Andrea Camilleri, Stephen Sartarelli (Translator)

Overview

“You either love Andrea Camilleri or you haven’t read him yet. Each novel in this wholly addictive, entirely magical series, set in Sicily and starring a detective unlike any other in crime fiction, blasts the brain like a shot of pure oxygen. Aglow with local color, packed with flint-dry wit, as fresh and clean as Mediterranean seafood — altogether transporting. Long live Camilleri, and long live Montalbano.” A.J. Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window

Witty and entertaining, the Montalbano novels by Andrea Camilleri-a master of the Italian detective story-have become favorites of mystery fans everywhere. In this latest installment, an unidentified corpse is found near Vigàta, a town known for its soil rich with potter's clay. Meanwhile, a woman reports the disappearance of her husband, a Colombian man with Sicilian origins who turns out to be related to a local mobster. Then Inspector Montalbano remembers the story from the Bible-Judas's betrayal, the act of remorse, and the money for the potter's field, where those of unknown or foreign origin are to be buried-and slowly, through myriad betrayals, finds his way to the solution to the crime.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780143120131
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	09/27/2011
Series:	Inspector Montalbano Series , #13
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	454,532
Product dimensions:	5.02(w) x 7.73(h) x 0.64(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Andrea Camilleri is an internationally bestselling author. He lives in Rome.
Stephen Sartarelli is an award-winning translator and poet. He lives in France.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Andrea Camilleri and the Montalbano Series

“The idiosyncratic Montalbano is totally endearing.”—The New York Times
 
“Camilleri is as crafty and charming a writer as his protagonist is an investigator.”—The Washington Post Book World

“Hailing from the land of Umberto Eco and La Cosa Nostra, Montalbano can discuss a pointy-headed book like Western Attitudes Toward Death as unflinchingly as he can pore over crime-scene snuff photos. He throws together an extemporaneous lunch of shrimp with lemon and oil as gracefully as he dodges advances from attractive women.”—Los Angeles Times

“[Camilleri’s mysteries] offer quirky characters, crisp dialogue, bright storytelling—and Salvo Montalbano, one of the most engaging protagonists in detective fiction…Montalbano is a delightful creation, an honest man on Siciliy’s mean streets.”—USA Today

“Camilleri is as crafty and charming a writer as his protagonist is an investigator.”—The Washington Post Book World

“Like Mike Hammer or Sam Spade, Montalbano is the kind of guy who can’t stay out of trouble…Still, deftly and lovingly translated by Stephen Sartarelli, Camilleri makes it abundantly clear that under the gruff, sardonic exterior our inspector has a heart of gold, and that any outburst, fumbles, or threats are made only in the name of pursuing truth.”—The Nation

“Camilleri can do a character’s whole backstory in half a paragraph.”—The New Yorker

“Subtle, sardonic, and molto simpatico: Montalbano is the Latin re-creation of Philip Marlowe, working in a place that manages to be both more and less civilized than chandler’ Los Angeles.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred)

“The novels of Andrea Camilleri breathe out the sense of place, the sense of humor, and the sense of despair that fills the air of Sicily."—Donna Leon

From the Publisher

“…one of the best installments in the entire Inspector Montalbano series.

The New York Journal of Books

The Inspector (The Track of Sand) is confronted with a complex case of betrayal in the latest in a literate and compelling series. Consider the dual meaning of a potter's field for openers.

Library Journal

Inspector Montalbano has extra difficulty solving a murder with biblical echoes when everyone around him gives him a taste of his own bristly medicine. After a disturbing dream, veteran Sicilian detective Salvo Montalbano awakens groggily to a ringing telephone and the report of a dead body found in the woods. It's a rainy day to boot, so Montalbano is anxious to finish the job and get dry. But his two sidekicks, Mimì and Fazio, are more interested in finishing a game than recovering the bagged corpse, and Catarella, the junior member of the team, further complicates the operation. In the end, the retrieval process proves to be a muddy comedy of errors, exacerbated by the fact that the body "drifts," ending up in pieces, and by the sheer irascibility of Pasquale Ajena, who first found it on his land. Far from an anomaly, the prickly behavior of everyone around Montalbano seems to become a pattern, most disturbingly in his formerly devoted lover Livia, whose sudden contrariness agitates but doesn't change him. Could the crazed motorist who gets his jollies by nearly hitting a young female pedestrian be connected to the dismembered victim? Is the crime really connected to the Mafia? Why has Mimì kept his recent marriage a secret? And why is Catarella weeping? Montalbano has never been one for just the facts, ma'am, but his 13th recorded case (The Track of Sand, 2010, etc.) goes appealingly over the top into slapstick and character-driven farce. Especially recommended for series fans and mystery readers who enjoy the journey more than the solution.

Kirkus Reviews