 |
This recommendation comes from our good friend Michael Reidy at The Bespoke Agency. When he’s not knee-deep in articles and press releases about the printing industry, he’s relaxing at his country retreat in France, writing more personal pieces and reading books like this.
Inspector Montalbano: The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri
Andrea Camilleri's The Shape of Water is the first of the Inspector Montalbano novels. A police inspector in a small town in Sicily, Montalbano is about as unremarkable as a fictional detective can be. His honesty and sympathy for the human condition are his most notable qualities. He also enjoys food, though he not a fussy eater; he likes good, local cooking with fresh ingredients. The books, all set in Sicily, give an insight into this island that goes beyond stereotypical observations. The books have a quiet wit about them that juxtaposes ideas enough to make them entertaining, but not sensational. Camilleri moves from a description of a corpse to the description of lunch with alarming ease. His violence is real, but not gratuitous; his characters are easily recognizable, but not caricatures; the plots are credible, neither contrived nor predictable. Good local color in a little known location and clean storytelling give these essentially domestic crimes a distinctive flavor.
(Penguin, 2005) |
