The Track of Sand (Inspector Montalbano Series #12)

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

Inspector Salvatore Montalbano wakes from strange dreams to find a gruesomely bludgeoned horse carcass in front of his seaside home. When his men came to investigate, the carcass has disappeared, leaving only a trail in the sand. Then his home is ransacked and the inspector is certain that the crimes are linked. As he negotiates both the glittering underworld of horseracing and the Mafia's connection to it, Montalbano is aided by his illiterate housekeeper, Adelina, and a Proustian memory of linguate fritte. Longtime fans and new readers alike will be charmed by Montalbano's blend of unorthodox methods, melancholy self-reflection, and love of good food.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780143117933
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	10/26/2010
Series:	Inspector Montalbano Series , #12
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.70(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Andrea Camilleri is the bestselling author of the popular Inspector Montalbano Mystery series, as well as a number of historical novels that take place in Sicily. He lives in Italy.

Stephen Sartarelli is an award-winning translator and poet who lives in France.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"This series is distinguished by Camilleri's remarkable feel for tragicomedy, expertly mixing light and dark in the course of producing novels that are both comforting and disturbing."
-Booklist

Editorial Reviews

"This series is distinguished by Camilleri's remarkable feel for tragicomedy, expertly mixing light and dark in the course of producing novels that are both comforting and disturbing."
-Booklist

From the Publisher

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.

Kirkus Reviews

There's a deliciously playful quality to the mysteries Andrea Camilleri writes about a lusty Sicilian police detective named Salvo Montalbano…Taking aim at the idle rich, Camilleri skewers their rude manners, their affected airs and their ostentatious amusements…
—The New York Times

Marilyn Stasio

Montalbano uses some creative chicanery and tweaking of the law to provide a dramatic and satisfying conclusion.”

Publishers Weekly

This series is distinguished by Camilleri’s remarkable feel for tragicomedy, expertly mixing light and dark in the course of producing novels that are both comforting and disturbing.”

Booklist

Teens and adults alike will enjoy this highly entertaining, humorous, full of local color, twelfth in the Inspector Montalbano series. Exerienced narrator Grover Gardner does a great job with Camilleri’s description of the Sicilian locale and characters. His treatment of spoken Italian dialogue enhances the humor of the story. The major characters, who are mostly professional and upper-class, speak straight English, no Italian accents. The regular policemen on the force, waiters, the housekeeper speak a ‘spoof’ Italian. This division of language treatment fits the ‘keystone cops,’ slapstick humor of the story, and makes the story laugh-out-loud funny.”

SoundCommentary.com

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 is both its perfect expression and its best hope for an antidote.”

Kirkus Reviews

The irascible police inspector Salvo Montalbano…is splendidly evoked by Grover Gardner…Italian accents do not rule Gardener’s narration, but the voices of the gruff Montalbano, his seductive female acquaintances, and his hard-pressed staff are all unique snapshots of character...Immensely entertaining.”

AudioFile