Frank S. (colonelstech) reviewed on 2/11/2012 + 38 more book reviews

A local PBS station in the DC area (WMHZ) has been showing the RAI TV series based on Camilleri's novels. The Italian actor Luca Zingaretti plays Montalbano perfectly and a terrific casts fits the supporting roles to a T. RAI shot the series in the Sicilian city of Ragusa, Italy, and surrounding towns, and the scenery is exquisite. SO I am forced to compare the novels with the episodes I have already seen on the screen. It is worth the time. Camilleri give Salvo Montalbano an inner voice even a genius like Zingaretti cannot fully encompass. The characters in the novels have a Sicilian edge lacking in the sunny figures on the screen. And the plots have deeper and darker resonances than the dramas can convey. That said, the only real surprise is how Salvo in the novels can stand his girl-friend, Livia. On the screen she is a delicious (if demanding) blonde from Genoa in the North. In the novels, Salvo loves waking up next to her, but otherwise, he can't seem to wait to put her back on the plane.

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