Voice of the Violin (Inspector Montalbano Mysteries) [Kindle Edition]

Andrea Camilleri (Author), Stephen Sartarelli (Translator)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In his fourth mystery to feature Inspector Salvo Montalbano (The Snack Thief, etc.), Camilleri once again thrills with his fluid storytelling and quirky characters. The irritable Sicilian detective's first challenge is to figure out a way to start an investigation into the murder of a woman whose naked body he discovered through an unauthorized break-in, without letting it be known that he was the one who found her. The long list of suspects includes the woman's husband, who's seemingly unaffected by the news of her death; the neighborhood half-wit, who would charitably be described as an admirer but more appropriately as a stalker; and the woman's out-of-town lover, who has a cryptic background of his own. Salvo is as incapable of turning his back on the mystery as he is at playing politics, and he soon finds himself in trouble with his superiors and the patsy for an ambitious colleague. Perhaps because the crime itself is less intricate than those in earlier books in the series, the author has increased the stakes for Salvo's career and the amount of maverick behavior. Through this deft translation, Camilleri's tale of lust, greed and hidden beauty should win new American readers.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Just last year, when the first Inspector Montalbano mystery (The Shape of Water) made its belated appearance in the U.S., we asked that the translations keep coming--and quickly. Our wish has been granted. This is the fourth in the series to be published here in a mere 18 months, and it is every bit as good as the previous three. This time the doggedly anti-bureaucratic Montalbano, police inspector in the picturesque Sicilian city of Vigata, stumbles upon the dead body of an attractive woman from Bologna and must re-create her last hours in an effort to find the killer. As usual, Montalbano finds himself appalled not only by the callousness of the killer but also by the insufferable small-mindedness of his superiors. Camilleri continues to mix procedural detail with personal drama--Montalbano's tenuous relationship with his lover and his attraction to one of the witnesses in the case--in ways that add depth to both the characters and the drama. If you like the Italian crime novel, you'll love this series. Bill Ott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 292 KB
• Print Length: 256 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (June 29, 2004)
• Sold by: Penguin Publishing
• Language: English
• ASIN: B001R9DI84
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #47,517 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

More About the Author

Andrea Camilleri is the author of the spectacularly successful Montalbano mystery series and many other novels set in nineteenth-century Sicily. His Montalbano novels have been made into an Italian TV series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another enjoyable read by Camilleri, January 2, 2004

By 

Linda Oskam "dutch-traveller" (Amsterdam Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Voice of the Violin (Inspector Montalbano Mysteries) (Hardcover)

When the police car of Inspector Montalbano hits a small car parked at an apparently deserted country home, the inspector has a gut feeling that something is wrong. He finds the body of a beautiful woman, strangled in her bedroom. After a short while it turns out that the woman has numerous acquaintances in the area and that there are a fair number of suspects. The investigation is not made any easier by the fact that Montalbano's superiors are not exactly supporting him, even though his own team is squarely behind him. A combination of good policework and flashes of brilliance in the end solves the crime. In the meantime Montalbano also has to sort out the mess that he is making of his private life. And that is the nice thing about this series: it is the combination of police work and private hassles, that make Montalbano into more than your average, typical policeman-from-a-novel, but rather a real character with his good and his bad sides.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If You Like Donna Leon, Try Andrea Camilleri, October 19, 2005

By 

takingadayoff "takingadayoff" (Las Vegas, Nevada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Voice of the Violin (Inspector Montalbano Mysteries) (Paperback)

As someone who only reads a few mystery novels a year, I was overwhelmed to discover both Andrea Camilleri and Donna Leon at about the same time. Camilleri's Inspector Salvo Montalbano stories and Leon's Commissario Guido Brunetti novels are so good that I wanted to read them all and was delighted to find that both authors have written at least a dozen books each. Only five or six of Camilleri's have been translated into English from the original Italian so far, but more are on the way. And many of Leon's are out of print in the U.S., but perhaps that will change in the near future.

These are compelling mysteries that draw you right in and keep you hooked right up to the satisfying, if not always happy, conclusions. But that almost goes without saying. What keeps you coming back for more are the characters and the extras, in this case, the backdrops of Sicily and Venice.

Stephen Sartarelli's translations of the Camilleri books are marvelous. It isn't hard to translate a book, but it is difficult to do well. He strikes the perfect balance of translating most things, but turning to explanation when translating would destroy the mood. There are a few pages of explanations at the end of each book, describing pastas and exchange rates and cultural references. For instance, he translates education-impaired cop Catarella's rough speech into something Brooklyn-esque, but he explains Boghonghi the Dwarf, apparently a famous character to most Italians, but not to Americans. (Example of a bad translation -- I remember seeing a dubbed version of the French movie A Man and a Woman that completely destroyed the romantic mood when they replaced the Edith Piaf song playing on the car radio in the original version with a dubbed ragtime tune.)

I can't say which series is better, I tend to think that whichever I am reading at the moment is my favorite.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars VOICE OF THE VIOLIN - 'Notes' whodunit, December 12, 2003

By 

Dean Redfern (Indian River Shores, Florida) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Voice of the Violin (Inspector Montalbano Mysteries) (Hardcover)

This is a murder mystery set in Sicily, with the aroma of Italian pastries and pasta, replete with questionable jurisprudence and misguided police procedures - and husbands, wives and other lovers.

Written in Italian and translated into English, series character Inspector Salvo Montalbano literally crashes into a murder crime scene while on his way to a funeral. This subtle humor continues as Montalbano must find a way to "out" the fact that a young, naked and dead woman is locked inside the quieted cottage.

The suspects include the husband of the deceased; a girlfriend; an out-of-town lover; and a quirky neighborhood admirer and sometimes stalker. Leaving no stone unturned, even a questionable judge and some trigger-happy cops are fair game for Montalbano's investigation.

While solving this crime, Montalbano has girlfriend problems of his own to mend, on top of his infatuation with the girlfriend of the deceased. Sometimes Montalbano's life is even too much for Montalbano. These times usually call for a good Italian meal and an unplugged telephone.

VOICE OF THE VIOLIN is irreverent humor, with an underlining belief that "the end justifies the means," as in half-truths, news leaks and 'anonymous' police tips. But it is the complexity of Montalbano, and the complexity of the whodunit storyline, along with the wonderful setting, that make this a thoughtful, enjoyable, fun and worthwhile read.