It’s been a while to read one the Inspector Montalbano mysteries. It’s been a while to read anything in fact for me, so it was a joy to race through the sixth in the series and spend my weekend in Sicily in the company of the eccentric but deeply moral detective. Two standout scenes for me were where the inspector gets so enraged with builders chopping down his favourite olive tree, he takes a sledgehammer to the new house’s windows and spray paints the word “Arseholes!” on all four sides of the house. And then there is the final scene where he figures out he is living though a Faulkner story. A neat little nod to the author’s inspiration, a touch I might try in my own fiction.
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No. 2 of 50 books I intend to read and review in 2024.
I’m Patrick Sherriff, an Englishman who survived 13 years working for newspapers in the US, UK and Japan. Between teaching English lessons at my conversation school in Abiko, Japan, I write and illustrate textbooks for non-native speakers of English, release Hana Walker mystery novels, short stories, paint, and write essays and Our Man in Abiko, a monthly newsletter highlighting good writing in English, often about about Japan, art, crime fiction and teaching.
Patrick Sherriff 