The Track of Sand (Montalbano 12) [Hardcover]

When I discovered Andrea Camilleri's Inspector Montalbano stories, I felt as though I'd stumbled across a gold mine. I'm hard to please when it comes to fictional detectives, but for me these books are up there alongside such greats as Raymond Chandler's first four novels, Dashiel Hammett's "The Dain Curse", the TV version of "Inspector Morse" and Jeremy Brett's first few TV series as Sherlock Holmes. This book is the twelfth Montalbano story to be translated into English, and I've now read all twelve in less than six months.

Camilleri thankfully does not rely on the currently predominant crime story formula of shock, gore and serial killers. Instead, all the Montalbano stories, including this excellent one, are characterised by three main elements, in addition to the obviously requisite page-turning plots.

Firstly, there is the character of our flawed hero Montalbano himself: selfish and odd, but endearing and amusing. Here is a man who will avoid meeting his girlfriend so that he can savour a good meal in his favourite restaurant without having to talk to anyone. Of course every writer tries to create a detective who is in some way "different" or quirky, or has an interesting relationship with his sidekick, but the Montalbano creation really works and is very refreshing.

Secondly there is the humour, often of the laugh-out-loud variety. There are grim moments in these murder stories, of course, but the prevailing tone is amusing. Much of the humour involves Montalbano's personality and his interactions with the other characters. But there are also comic gems such as Officer Catarella with his linguistic difficulties. My first reaction to this was negative: I thought that the translator, Stephen Sartarelli, was making this character (and several others) speak in the sort of corny, stereotyped language that writers have often condescendingly put into the mouths of working class characters. But then I realised that this was mainly the way that Sartarelli was tackling the difficult problem of translating the Sicilian dialect that features prominently in the original Italian novels. I also soon realised that Catarella's linguistic confusion is actually very funny. (It's a pity that Catarella does not appear in the very first story, "The Shape of Water".)

The third element that I like about these books is Camilleri's left wing politics. There are sideswipes at Berlusconi and plenty of references to the links between the Mafia, big business and corrupt politicians and police officers. One book, "Rounding the Mark", starts off with Montalbano considering resignation from the police force because he is disgusted at the (real life) police brutality directed against protesters at the G8 summit in Genoa in 2001. (Incidentally, points such as this are usefully explained in the notes provided by the translator.)

There is only one thing that slightly spoils this particular book for me. (Hence the four stars instead of five.) This is the brief episode where Montalbano seems to be living out events that he has previously experienced in a premonition-type dream. Similarly, in "August Heat" we have an incident involving telepathy between twins, and in "The Scent of the Night" there is a surreal episode in which Montalbano finds himself living out scenes from a novel he has previously read. The Montalbano stories are generally very down-to-earth, and I can't understand why Camilleri has slipped these brief paranormal episodes into three of the books.

Overall though, I strongly recommend this book, and indeed the whole series. It's been said that the great thing about Raymond Chandler's novels is that they take you into the world inhabited by Philip Marlowe: its places and its characters. Read these stories and enter Montalbano's world.

Incidentally, the Italian TV version of Montalbano is also very good, and it's frustrating that we have not seen more of this on television here in Britain. (PS, February 2012. Good news: BBC 4 is showing 10 episodes.)

Phil Webster.

Inspector Salvo Montalbano awakens from an erotic dream involving his long-term partner, Livia, to find a dead horse on the sand in front of his seaside villa. As he ponders his strained relationship, the Pirandellian-plot of the twelfth novel in the popular detective series evolves from a Godfather-inspired case of appalling cruelty into a complicated mystery where hypotheses crumble with each new revelation. The bloody carcass vanishes, a beautiful aristocrat's horse disappears, and a gang of inexpert burglars who may be connected to the `young mafia' menace Montalbano while he prepares to give evidence at a trial involving an old-style Mafia-protection racket.
Mention of fictional detectives from Columbo and Maigret to Martin Beck adds richness to the proceedings. Camilleri shares Sjöwall and Wahlöö's critique of injustice and institutional corruption relayed through dry humour: `For a long time he had been thinking of rewriting the Constitution. Since everybody and his dog was doing it, why couldn't he? Article One would begin as follows: "Italy is a precarious republic founded on mistakes"', which he cleverly refracts through the self-consciously Beck-like formula.
Playfully, Montalbano also reads detective fiction: `He got into bed and started reading one of the Swedish books he had bought. Its protagonist was a colleague of his, Inspector Martin Beck, whose manner of investigation he found very appealing.' Unlike Beck, though, he is too vain to wear spectacles; too old-fashioned to learn new technology and relies on Catarella, the clownish switchboard operator; too impatient to listen to Fazio's `bureaucratic information', instead, he relies on intuition and dreams filled with empty signs to solve the case.
Stephen Sartarelli's intelligent translation and light annotation draws attention to Camilleri's topical commentary while retaining his comic timing:
`Chief, that'd be a lady named Esther.'
`She didn't give you her full name?'
`Yessir, she did, an' iss what I juss tol' you.'
`So she's Miss or Mrs Esther?'
`Zackly, Chief. An' her last name is Man.'
Esther Mann. He'd never heard of her. [...] `All right then, send her in.'
`My name is Esterman, Rachele Esterman', said a fortyish woman in jacket and jeans'.
The Track of Sand is an accomplished detective novel that adds a further layer of ironic self-awareness to the entire Montalbano series.

An edited version of this review was published in TLS in July 2011

Don't get me wrong I love Montablano. However, for some time now I felt the plots have become a little jaded. There's all the usual bits in this, him suddenly dawning on something, daft Cat, the food etc which I like but its all crying out for something to enliven it again. At least we're spared Livia and he eventually plays away! However, there's a paragraph at the top of page 32 which had me in fits of laughter, a jem. That paragraph is 5 star and worth the price of the book alone, but it all needs a breath of fresh air as its becoming too predictable, which is a shame.