The Shape of Water is the first in Andrea Camilleri's wry, brilliantly compelling Sicilian crime series, featuring Inspector Montalbano. The novel is set in the Sicialian town of Vigata, the body of engineer Silvio Luparello is found at the Pasture, a trash filled empty place populated only by whores and drug dealers. The coroner's verdict is that he died from natural causes that Salvo immediately discounts. The plot begins to unravel and I am quickly reading until the very end. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series, The Terracotta Dog. Andrea Camilleri writes with humor that creates a funny police procedural. If you love humor with mystery then you would love these books.
The very first of the Inspector Montalbano mysteries is set in Sicily in the early 1990s and follows the investigation of the death of a local big shot, Silvio Luparello. Montalbano suspects that the powers-that-be want to blacken Luparello's reputation and the standing of his political faction by having it look like a cover-up is being conducted. Camilleri's social critique is pitilessly examining Sicilian culture and its exploitation of the pretty by the ugly, of the young by the old, of the vulnerable by the powerful. This first novel of the series set the tone for the 27 Montalbano novels that followed, mixing a good mystery, fine characterization, and social critique.
Was excited to start reading this series, but unfortunately couldn't even finish the first book. Not sure if it's the translation to blame, but the book is very trying to read, and the story didn't hold me at all.
