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Commissario Montalbano #13

El campo del alfarero

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n los pedregosos aledaños de Pizzutello, la lluvia ha devuelto a la luz un cadáver con signos de haber sido ajusticiado por traición. Sin huellas dactilares y con el rostro desfigurado,

las características no se corresponden con las de ningún desaparecido. Y cuando Mimì Augello insiste de forma muy extraña en hacerse cargo del caso personalmente, las alarmas de Montalbano se encienden. Pese a que los molestos achaques de la edad lo tienen algo embotado, su infalible instinto lo lleva a no ceder las riendas y seguir adelante sin bajar la guardia. O tal vez el mejor estímulo sea la aparición en escena de Dolores Alfano, una mujer atractiva y seductora que denuncia la desaparición de su marido, de quien dejó de tener noticias poco antes de que embarcara hacia Sudamérica. Así, de manera gradual y casi imperceptible, dos casos en apariencia distantes empiezan a mezclarse, y Montalbano deberá devanarse los sesos y valerse de todo su ingenio para desvelar la trama oculta de una traición insospechada.

En esta decimoséptima entrega encontramos a un Salvo Montalbano con cierta tendencia a la misantropía, cada vez más entregado a sus momentos de soledad y a esos diálogos con su otro yo, que por una parte lo agotan y por otra le señalan el camino. Engañando a quien lo engaña, rebatiendo falsedades con nuevas falsedades, al final el verdadero temple del comisario resurgirá cuando renuncie a la gloria por lealtad a quienes ama. Quizá la vida no sea tan absurda, después de todo.

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

335 people are currently reading
1481 people want to read

About the author

Andrea Camilleri

471 books2,428 followers
Andrea Camilleri was an Italian writer. He is considered one of the greatest Italian writers of both 20th and 21st centuries.

Originally from Porto Empedocle, Sicily, Camilleri began studies at the Faculty of Literature in 1944, without concluding them, meanwhile publishing poems and short stories. Around this time he joined the Italian Communist Party.

From 1948 to 1950 Camilleri studied stage and film direction at the Silvio D'Amico Academy of Dramatic Arts, and began to take on work as a director and screenwriter, directing especially plays by Pirandello and Beckett. As a matter of fact, his parents knew Pirandello and were even distant friends, as he tells in his essay on Pirandello "Biography of the changed son". His most famous works, the Montalbano series show many pirandellian elements: for example, the wild olive tree that helps Montalbano think, is on stage in his late work "The giants of the mountain"

With RAI, Camilleri worked on several TV productions, such as Inspector Maigret with Gino Cervi. In 1977 he returned to the Academy of Dramatic Arts, holding the chair of Movie Direction, and occupying it for 20 years.

In 1978 Camilleri wrote his first novel Il Corso Delle Cose ("The Way Things Go"). This was followed by Un Filo di Fumo ("A Thread of Smoke") in 1980. Neither of these works enjoyed any significant amount of popularity.

In 1992, after a long pause of 12 years, Camilleri once more took up novel-writing. A new book, La Stagione della Caccia ("The Hunting Season") turned out to be a best-seller.

In 1994 Camilleri published the first in a long series of novels: La forma dell'Acqua (The Shape of Water) featured the character of Inspector Montalbano, a fractious Sicilian detective in the police force of Vigàta, an imaginary Sicilian town. The series is written in Italian but with a substantial sprinkling of Sicilian phrases and grammar. The name Montalbano is an homage to the Spanish writer Manuel Vázquez Montalbán; the similarities between Montalban's Pepe Carvalho and Camilleri's fictional detective are remarkable. Both writers make great play of their protagonists' gastronomic preferences.

This feature provides an interesting quirk which has become something of a fad among his readership even in mainland Italy. The TV adaptation of Montalbano's adventures, starring the perfectly-cast Luca Zingaretti, further increased Camilleri's popularity to such a point that in 2003 Camilleri's home town, Porto Empedocle - on which Vigàta is modelled - took the extraordinary step of changing its official denomination to that of Porto Empedocle Vigàta, no doubt with an eye to capitalising on the tourism possibilities thrown up by the author's work.

In 1998 Camilleri won the Nino Martoglio International Book Award.

Camilleri lived in Rome where he worked as a TV and theatre director. About 10 million copies of his novels have been sold to date, and are becoming increasingly popular in the UK and North America.

In addition to the degree of popularity brought him by the novels, in recent months Andrea Camilleri has become even more of a media icon thanks to the parodies aired on an RAI radio show, where popular comedian, TV-host and impression artist Fiorello presents him as a raspy voiced, caustic character, madly in love with cigarettes and smoking (Camilleri is well-known for his love of tobacco).

He received an honorary degree from University of Pisa in 2005.

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 442 reviews
Profile Image for Rosa .
161 reviews72 followers
March 16, 2025
مزرعه ی کوزه گر درست روی مرز بین خوب و معمولی بودنه، تلاش نویسنده برای بانمک بودن قابل تقدیره اما چندان موفقیت آمیز نیست، از طرفی برعکس مزه پرونی ها، معمای قتل هوشمندانه و هیجان انگیزه . هرچند که خیلی زود معلوم میشه ی جای کار میلنگه و از ی جایی به بعد مشخصه که قاتل کیه، با این حال قصه جذاب باقی می مونه...
بین داستان های جنایی که از نشر قطره تا الان خوندم، مزرعه کوزه گر رو کمتر از بقیه دوست داشتم...
Profile Image for Alialiarya.
210 reviews82 followers
August 7, 2022
کارآگاه به همکارانش می‌گوید قتل رخداده مانند قتل‌های مافیایی است که هر عملی روی مقتول انجام شود نمایی از عملکرد او در زندگی‌اش است. او به صورت اتفاقی متوجه شده مزرعه کوزه‌گر که مکان دفن اوست و سی تکه شدنش بازسازی یک روایت از انجیل است. او مطمئن است این یک قتل حساب شده و از طرف مافیاست. طبیعتا همکارانش جدی‌اش نمی‌گیرند...

خواندنش از راحت‌ترین کارهایی بود که اخیرا کرده‌ام. و از ایتالیایی‌ترین‌شان. پر از آدم‌های کمیک و بامزه، همکاران احمق، خیانت، درگیری‌های خانوادگی، زناشویی ناسالم و شوخی‌هایی که انگار جایشان این‌جا نیست. تجربه‌ی جالبی بود که بخش کمیک و اعصاب‌ داغون کارآگاه در تمامی کتاب ثابت مانده بود و همیشه لحظه‌ای بود که بتوان از جنایت خشن فاصله گرفت. راستش همین طنز جالب و زبان تند باعث می‌شود بخش معمایی ناکافی کتاب را کمتر دید و بسیار از کتاب لذت برد

Profile Image for Ellie Spencer (catching up from hiatus).
280 reviews387 followers
February 25, 2020
This is definitely one of my favourites in the Inspector Montalbano series. The theme of betrayal in this book had me feeling all sorts of emotions. Characters I have grown to love left me feeling a little angry and hurt by their actions. I loved the different direction this plot took compared to previous books.
As always the food and scenery descriptions are second to none. Camilleri and Sartarelli (the translator) are both incredible at what they do.
Profile Image for Dave Schaafsma.
Author 6 books32.1k followers
October 18, 2021
After a couple of meh entries, Andrea Camilleri returns with an award-winning volume of his series focusing on Inspector Salvo Montalbano, set in fictional Vigata, Sicily. This book opens with the usual comedy, then a murder, then comedy as his band of misfits operate like the Keystone Cops, ludicrous yet entertaining. . . . unless you have read thirteen of these books and you realize there is no character development except in the main character (who is grumpily aging and worried about it). So I thought at the first that it was just another ho hum book to read super fast, then began to see better writing and possibly deeper purpose. The crime solution itself is not memorable, but the meditations surrounding it are thoughtful and well done.

The title Potter’s Field is a reference to the story in the Gospel of Matthew, where Judas accepts thirty pieces of silver to betray Jesus. And a body is found in a muddy clay field (perfect for potters) cut into thirty pieces. Is it a mafia hit? And why is it Salvo’s own Lieutenant Mimi Augello (the ladies man) wants to take over the investigation? Then Salvo finds that the man who was killed was the husband of a woman Mimi may be having an affair with. Betrayal of Mimi's wife? Of the police force? Of Salvo?

This focus on betrayal works its way through the book on the large and small, public and personal level. And Camilleri weaves in more literary references than usual, from Shakespeare to Machiavelli. Salvo even makes playful reference to a Camilleri novel he has been reading, which is fun.

Some popular phrases get repeated in every book, now multiple times: Everyone to Salvo his “busting his balls,” Catarella says “ personally in person,” Salvo “pricks up his ears,” when an interesting thing is said, in every book. If this gets tiresome, another theme in each book that is not so tiresome is the celebration of beautiful women, this time a Colombian woman who makes every man fall all over each other, in Buster Keaton fashion, fainting with admiration. Will every man betray his wife or or girlfriend with this woman? (Sad, deplorable. . . but have you seen her??!!) Is there something in the food or wine or the extreme heat that will lead to an answer?

Ah yes, food. I wondered: Had anyone begun to write about the Sicilian food being described in each of these books, and sure enough, here’s one (of many, I suspect) study from The Paris Review, complete with recipes:

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2...

Camilleri didn’t even publish the first (of 26!) of these books until he (a famed stage director for most of his life) was sixty-nine, but at his death in 2019 (at the age of 94) was one of the most beloved public figures in Sicilian history, writing books that were attempts to entertain and prod readers to reflect on serious issues. He even took on the mafia and political corruption, a dangerous enterprise on that island. I didn’t think the actual crime was equal to all the literary/philosophical/moral weight given to it, but this is better writing than usual in the series.
97 reviews4 followers
October 28, 2011
Another neat trick by Camilleri. It seems so simple and obvious in the first part of the book, I wondered where the twisty subtlety had gone. Well, I found out it hadn't.

The subtly twisting heart of this book comes from the idea of betrayal, big and small, in private, public and police life, against others or oneself. Some so small as not to matter, others that can ruin a career or end a life. Or save any of these.

Why on earth does a writer of Camilleri's gifts write mysteries - though I am so glad he does? How this writer/thinker moves from surface comedy into things so deep the soul begins to rise and the understanding of the world focuses just that little bit more, is beyond me. But he does it in "simple" vocabulary suitable to the genre. Beautifully enjoyable mysteries with equal amounts of puzzle, character, atmosphere, philosophy, intellectual history -- and escapism. Would that I could share Inspector Montalbano's veranda by the sea. His meals at Enzo's. His fertile brain. His capacity for coffee.

One of the best things about this Sicilian series is how un-Sicilian it is in terms of the established cliche. The mafia is there. And Montalbano is a cop. Yet much of his life is full of sky and sun and sea, of honest co-workers, and normally idiosyncratic people. All of which yields great plotting and reading.

Profile Image for Mark.
1,595 reviews223 followers
October 22, 2024
series 8 episode 1 in 2011 did deliver this story to the small screen with Luca Zingaretti as Montalbano in this long running TV series from Italy, when I say series I mean collection of TV movies that are generally excellently and faithful to the writing of Andrea Camilleri.

When Montalbano wakes up it is not to the sound of the telephone heralding some awful crime, this time it is Caterella at his front door who is coming to take him to a body discovered in a Potters field, where the local man who found the package with body parts works and finds the clay he sells.
Mimi and Fazio want him there and the weather, heavy rainfall, does nothing to improve Montalbano's mood.
A second story line is Mimi having trouble with the relationship with a secret mistress and taking it out on the personal of the police station, which requires a lot of wheeling and dealing as Livia, the love of his life, is also meddling in the matter without knowing anything about a love affair.
A third story line is the disappearance of an husband whose missing is being reported by his wife who of course is as beautiful as women can be.

This book is easily one of the better Montalbano mysteries and in it we learn how well an investigator as master tactician is who does anything to protect his people, the story makes sense and is actually quite brilliant.

An excellent instalment of the series and great fun to read.
Profile Image for Seth.
111 reviews
December 18, 2011
The theme of the Potter’s Field is betrayal. The reference to the potter’s field stems from the Gospels according to Matthew. When Judas returns to the priests the 30 pieces of silver he was paid for betraying Christ, they use them to purchase a potter’s field, a burial ground for the indigent. When the Mafia deliberately slices the body of a traitor into 30 pieces, it is sending a warning message to others. In this context, Andrea Camilleri understands to mention Umberto Eco’s theory of semiotics.

Camilleri does not consider his detective series featuring Inspector Salvo Montalbano great literature, but he places the adventures in a broader cultural context. Thus, in the Potter’s Field the author makes literary, artistic, and scholarly references not only to the Gospels and Eco, but also to Freudian dream interpretation, the painting “The Blind Leading the Blind” by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Dostoevsky’s novels, a quote by Bertolt Brecht, Homer’s Odyssey, Shakespeare’s “method in my madness,” and Machiavelli’s “the ends justify the means.” He even playfully alludes to one of his own works. My dear erudite fellow-readers, is this an example of meta-fiction?
Profile Image for Farnaz Farid.
347 reviews38 followers
August 9, 2024
کتاب جالب و سرگرم کننده ای بود . اما خب جز بهترین جنایی هایی که خونده بودم قرار نمی گرفت.
شاید یه کم ساده انگارانه نوشته شده بود . فکر نمی کنم مافیاهای واقعی چنین عکس العملی نشون بدن.
بازرس مونتالبانو رو دوست داشتم . تقریبا شخصیت باورپذیری داشت .


تکه های جسدی در مزرعه ی موزه گر پیدا میشه که شامل ۳۰ قطعه بوده.
جسد کاملا پوسیده بوده و حدود ۲ ماه از مرگش گذشته بود.

با توجه به شیوه ی کشتن جسد پلیس به مافیای مواد مخدر شک می کنه .
زن جوان بسیار زیبایی در همون موقع به اداره پلیس مراجعه می کنه و اعلام می کنه از همسر دریانوردش خبری نداره و ...

در کل کتاب رو دوست داشتم .
ترجمه: نمی شه بگم خوب . متوسط بود
امتیازم ۳/۵

پ.ن: تقریبا قرار بود به عنوان اولین کتابم این اثر رو بخونم و با صدای من صوتی بشه که چون اکثر شخصیت ها مرد بودن ترجیح دادم این کار رو‌نکنم 😊و یه کتاب دیگه گرفتم

۵۰

پ.ن۲: از اول سال ۱۴۰۳ این پنجاهمین کتابی بود که خوندم و میشه فعلا ماهی ۱۰ تا کتاب که خب رو برنامه ام.
Profile Image for Sadjad Abedi.
174 reviews58 followers
May 14, 2021
چقدر کتاب خوبی بود. چقدر لذت‌بخش بود خواندنش. داستان هم جذاب بود و هم بسیار خوب روایت شده بود. طنزش حتی بعد از ترجمه به خوبی حفظ شده بود.
Profile Image for Maryam.
22 reviews4 followers
October 9, 2024
من دوستش داااشتم که البته علاقه زیادم به ژانر جنایی معمایی بی‌تاثیر نیست!
تقریبا وسط داستان تونستم تا حدودی ماجرا رو حدس بزنم اما بازم داستان کشش خودش رو حفظ کرد که در این مابین شخصیت موتالبانو و تلفیق داستان با طنز خفیف نقش زیادی ایفا کردن:»
و در کل خیلی خوشحالم که بالاخره اولین کتاب از آثار آندرآ کامیلری رو خوندم🥹✨
Profile Image for Carol.
318 reviews48 followers
July 10, 2012
Inspector Montalbano is getting older, closing in on 60. He is tired and achy but he still enjoys good food and wine. And he can still solve a complicated murder case because he is always thinking. He does multiplication tables when he is waiting. He uses Freud to interpret his dreams. He gives his boss statements to defend his actions using only the titles of Dostoevsky novels, knowing the commissioner will never pick up on it. He was too ignorant to have read them.

A body is found in a muddy clay field cut into 30 pieces. Montalbano and his detectives must figure out the identity of the murder victim and who killed him. He connects the murder to biblical references and possible mafia involvement. And ultimately a link to one of his staff.

This was one of Camilleri's best Montalbano mysteries to date. Not only a good mystery but with hilarious conversation between the characters. Sort of a cross between the Thin Man and the Sopranos. When Montalbano almost loses patience with a banker who hesitantly tells him a story. Montalbano senses a breaking in the general vicinity of his balls but he holds his temper as this later turns out to be a vital clue in his case. It never falls into slap stick, as there are dark moments as well. Molto Bene!
Profile Image for امیرمحمد حیدری.
Author 1 book71 followers
May 8, 2022
یک رمان ساده‌انگارانه؛ از آن حیث که چیزی نیست جز یک‌سری معمای کاملا روباز که سر و تهش مشخص است و حاصل زور زدنِ یک شخص برای جمع‌آوری یک پلاتِ بدون حفره که به‌داستانی قابل پیش‌بینی تبدیل شده است.
Profile Image for Richard.
2,286 reviews175 followers
November 8, 2021
The perfect antidote to cold winter days and long December nights.
This is now the 13th in this wonderful series set in Sicily and Camilleri writes in a relaxed and entertaining fashion that means these familiar characters are lifted from the pages with ease and for the reader's total enjoyment.

A crime mystery with complex human interactions, where the solution is not always evident and brilliant detective work is needed to find the what actually happened.
For further inspiration our police officer Inspector Montalbano turns to a book about the passion of Christ written by Andrea Camilleri and this comic twist is typical of the clever storytelling.
Montalbano is feeling his age; this regular swimmer nearly drowns; but in work he is never far from the truth or using that skill of reading people.
We fear the day he will retire and we long for the books to be translated promptly into English, meanwhile we trust this wonderful author will weave his magic for many years to come.
Profile Image for Caroline.
515 reviews22 followers
February 17, 2012
What's there not to love about this series? The food makes me salivate. The way he manages his team while playing pranks on them is inspirational. His constant battles with Livia humanize him and endears him. And on top of that, he's truly a brilliant man.

A body, hacked into 30 pieces and placed in a black bag, is discovered when the heavy rains wash the soil away from the shallow grave. Mimi is acting very strangely and seems to be under a great deal of stress. An extremely sensuous Colombian woman seems to have all men who cross her path enthralled, including Montalbano. And what is murder in Sicily without the mafia being involved in some way?

In this novel though, he's appearing wearier than usual and I'm afraid he's really going to make good on his threat to retire one day in the not too distant future.
Profile Image for Maria Altiki.
419 reviews28 followers
January 13, 2023
Μου είχε λείψει ο Σάλβο, είχα καιρό να διαβάσω τις περιπέτειες του και η συγκεκριμένη ήταν εξαιρετική. Ο τρόπος που χειρίζεται την υπόθεση έχει απίστευτη μαεστρία.
Profile Image for Maria Lago.
478 reviews135 followers
Read
November 17, 2021
Not really finished... Just gave up, because my Italian is not good enough :_( (yet!)
15 reviews
October 28, 2011
Camilleri is an acquired taste. This one starts out in amusing fashion when Inspector Montalbano has to be driven to a suspected crime scene by Catarella who normally doesn't leave the police station. The sergeant can hardly move without breaking/falling over/banging into something. The pair pull up alongside the police Jeep and don't see anyone. Because it is pouring rain, the Inspector [he really doesn't want to get wet] tells Catarella to honk the horn but it doesn't work, so the two sit there waiting. Eventually Catarella offers to go look for the other officers, opens the car door, and promptly vanishes.

Worried that Catarella has drowned, Montalbano gets out of the car and walks around to the driver's side where he finds himself in a freefall. When he gets to the bottom, he spots Catarella on the ground looking like a fresh mud sculpture. A few pages and a few slippery adventures later, they manage to locate the garbage bag [which has moved as fast through the mud as they did] containing a body cut into pieces.

This series is set in Sicily so there is always a little corruption, the everpresent Mafia, lovely women and police of various sorts. Camilleri is quite expert at making it work. His photo at the beginning of the book shows a man in his seventies with a cigarette in his hand, scowling at the camera. As his aging hero Montalbano laments in this book, getting older isn't a lot of fun. But the food, wine and setting sure are for the reader.
Profile Image for Mahnaz .
130 reviews14 followers
September 17, 2024
کتاب مزرعه کوزه گر، با ژانر جنایی- پلیسی که یه کتاب با خوانش روان هست و با ‌پایان قابل حدس. در کل کتاب متوسطی هست که شخصیت اصلی داستان کارآگاه مونتالبانو یک کارآگاه خبره و زبردسته که تلاش میکنه در کنار کشف راز جنایت ،روابط با دیگران رو هم حفظ کنه .
جایی از کتاب نوشته بود :
« جمله‌ای از شاعر آلمانی به نام برتولت برشت به یادش آمد که می گفت : چرا باید عاشق پنجره ای باشم که در کودکی از آن سقوط کرده ام؟…
فکر کرد نه، برشت هم نمیتواند گویای حالی باشد که تجربه می کند. چون وقتی به اندازه کافی پیر شده باشی ، گاهی اوقات خاطره ی پنجره لعنتی با تمام قوا به ذهنت هجوم می آورد و آن وقت حاضری هر راه طولانی و سختی را برای زیارتش بروی فقط به این شرط که بتوانی از دریچه ی همان چشمان معصوم کودکانه ببینی اش. »
Profile Image for Susan.
237 reviews6 followers
June 28, 2014
My Favorite Andrea Camilleri to Date... Having not read the Author in a while... I realized how much I missed his Books.. After you read his first book... You can skip around because they are Stand Alone Novels...The Potters Field is very Current,And Historic & Poetic Lets not forget Murder Italian Style... Andrea Camilleri can Stir The Pot Incorporating Religion with a Twist and it all fits together... Solved... With a dash of Philosophy..
Profile Image for Nancy Oakes.
2,017 reviews890 followers
February 4, 2012
Definitely not my favorite in the series, but like 3.75 stars rounded up.

The Potter's Field is the latest in Camilleri's adventures featuring Inspector Salvo Montalbano, coming in at book number thirteen in the series. According to Wikipedia, there are three more already written, waiting to be translated. Good. I'm not quite ready for the series to end just yet.

Montalbano has a lot on his plate in this installment. First, he is called to a crime scene in the middle of the pouring rain, where a man who sells clay from his land to local artists has discovered a body in a bag. When the police examine the bag, they find that the body has been dismembered and the face bashed in beyond recognition. While waiting for the forensics experts to do their job, he faces his second challenge: a drop-dead gorgeous and very alluring woman comes to the Vigata station to report that her husband, Giovanni Alfano, seems to be missing. Dolores Alfano shows Salvo a note written by Giovanni, which she swears was not from him. She is sure that he boarded the ship, and wants Salvo to make some inquiries. Third, Mimi Augello has become absolutely unbearable in the office, and evidently at home as well -- Salvo receives a call from Livia, who after having spoken to Beba Augello, berates Salvo for keeping Mimi out on late-night stakeouts. The problem is that Mimi hasn't been involved in any stakeouts whatsoever. Throw in the Mafia, a television reporter who dislikes Montalbano, and a woman who will only cooperate with monarchists, and it all adds up to one heck of a dilemma.

While Camilleri brings his usual wit and wisdom to this novel, even at one point introducing a book into Salvo's library by Andrea Camilleri (which, by the way, just happens to shed a bit of light on the case), the overarching theme running throughout the story is that of betrayal. From the potter's field where the body is found (the location heralding back to the biblical story of Judas) to the Mafia and on into individual acts of betrayal, this thematic expression of deception adds a somber note that is punctuated with less humor than other novels in the Montalbano series. And Montalbano is growing more weary, wondering how long he can continue to act as

"the poor puppeteer of a wretched puppet theater. A puppeteer who struggled to bring off the performances as best he knew how. And for each new performance he managed to bring to a close, the struggle became greater, more wearisome."

But the good news for Montalbano fans is that there are a few more books waiting in the wings, so I wouldn't write Salvo off just yet.

I'm afraid I have to disagree with others who say that The Potter's Field is Camilleri's best Montalbano adventure so far, although I really enjoyed this book. The characters didn't have their usual oomph (no glaring laughs coming from Catarella's antics, for example), the mystery's solution is a bit transparent, and actually, the book was a bit more on the serious side than I have come to expect from the author. On the other hand, I follow the series more because of the character of Salvo Montalbano, who by now has become somewhat of an old friend.

Definitely recommended if you're following the series, but do start with book one and work your way through if you're considering this installment -- things will make so much more sense characterwise if you follow my advice on this one.
Profile Image for Nanosynergy.
762 reviews2 followers
March 20, 2015
For the smoothly interwoven literary references alone, I give this thirteenth book in the Inspector Montalbano series 4 stars. With the theme of the Potter's field in the Gospel of Matthew (30 pieces of silver to betray Jesus), Camilleri cleverly weaves in literary references into the investigation that include Dostoevsky, Shakespeare, Machiavelli and others (some of which I'm sure I missed). Reminiscent of Vladimir Nabokov. A gem in the genre. This is a police procedural that rises above the genre and goes down like a fine glass of wine.
Profile Image for Jan.
6,429 reviews96 followers
November 3, 2020
Only Camilleri could come up with such a convoluted murder plot and resolution.! The whole department is stressed, even in their personal lives, and doing the legwork on this one only adds to their woes. But Montalbano susses it all out and uses the solution to bring things back on track for the team. Another great read from the master!
Stephen Sartarelli is the master of Montalbano translations, and Grover Gardner in the voice of Montalbano and the other characters.
Profile Image for Ken Fredette.
1,164 reviews58 followers
December 8, 2011
I liked this Montalbano. Andrea Camilleri really portrayed a tired Inspector Montalbano. He's really tried to make him human with guilt feelings towards Livia. I know there's a lot of other written books of Inspector Montalbano out there in Italian that haven't been translated yet. So I don't know whats going to happen. Be ready though.
Profile Image for Adam Moss.
19 reviews15 followers
March 18, 2014
Beautifully playful, ingeniously twisty and with an appetite for life and solving mysteries you'd expect from an olive-oil fuelled Mediterranean man of law. This is a fantastically light read, despite it subject matter. And it's funny too. Rarely can comedy and crime have become such fitting bedfellows. Highly recommended.
Profile Image for Carlos Aparicio.
83 reviews1 follower
May 28, 2021
Hasta ahora, este es el libro de Montalbano que menos me ha gustado. Aunque la trama es sorprendente, creo que el desenlace es sumamente insípido e insatisfactorio para el lector. Para mí Mimì se merece un castigo que no recibe en este libro en lugar de tener un final tan conformista con las partes.
Profile Image for FatemehZahra.
142 reviews2 followers
August 2, 2023
فک کنم دارم روی کتاب های ادبیات پلیسی نشر قطره کراش میزنم بسکه خوبن
داستان از اونجایی شروع میشه که توی یک روز بارونی یه جسد تکه تکه شده در جایی به اسم مزرعه‌ی کوزه‌گر پیدا میشه و بازرس مونتالبانو سعی میکنه بفهمه جسد کیه و چطوری به قتل رسیده...
Profile Image for Kostas Kanellopoulos.
733 reviews40 followers
July 28, 2021
Το σύμπαν του Μονταλμπανο είναι γοητευτικό. Έπρεπε να δω την τηλεοπτική σειρά για να εκτιμήσω τις μπουφονικες καρικατούρες που τον περιτριγυρίζουν
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