The Terra-Cotta Dog

by Andrea Camilleri

Book Overview

"You either love Andrea Camilleri or you haven't read him yet. Each novel in this wholly addictive, entirely magical series, set in Sicily and starring a detective unlike any other in crime fiction, blasts the brain like a shot of pure oxygen. Aglow with local color, packed with flint-dry wit, as fresh and clean as Mediterranean seafood -- altogether transporting. Long live Camilleri, and long live Montalbano." A.J. Finn, #1 New...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0142004723
• ISBN13: 9780142004722
• Release Date: May 2005
• Publisher: Penguin Adult Hc/Tr
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.1" x 7.7"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Wonderful

This is a wonderful, airy, yet intellectually challenging mystery. Inspector Montalbano is at times a curmudgeon, a sweet tender man, a genius, a bumbler in news conferences and a man with a sense of humor and of himself. Other characters in the book - the good guys and the bad guys are equally engaging. This was my fiorst Inspector Montalbano book and I will be rushing to read more.There are two plot lines that are intertwined. One is current - gun-smuggling tipped off by a mafia boss who turns himself in (only with a fake arrest, however). The other is fifty year mystery that is unveiled only after the gun running is revealed. Although this book is airy and at times humorous, the mystery that is solved is done so in an ingenious, yet believable manner. The Inspector is terrific at deduction and, like other fine mysteries, one can read along and keep up with the unraveling of the yarn.The writing is terrific. This is a mystery that is intellectually challenging but keeps a smile on the face of the reader. Inspector Montalbano does not take himself overly seriously and the author invites the reader to take him in the same vein.I strongly recommend this book to anyone looking for good writing and a good mystery. If you like Italy and Sicily it will be even more engaging.

Inspector Montalbano's Curiosity Is Finally Satisfied

This is the second translation by Stephen Sartrelli that I have read of an Inspector Salvo Montalbano mystery by Andrea Camilleri, and I enjoyed it immensely. While THE SHAPE OF WATER (four star review 12/18/03) was an entertaining introductory volume to this series (which has become a best seller in Europe), I found the author's technique in this story of utilizing a present day mystery which Montalbano has to unravel as the introduction to an unrelated fifty year old murder mystery to be both clever and unusual. Usually when such crimes are resurrected decades after their occurrence, it is because they have some direct connection to the present day events under investigation, not the casual and coincidental connection which is the case in this story.Several threads are very cleverly intertwined in this story, which begins with a meeting with Montalbano's boyhood friend Gege Gullota, a small-time hood to whom we were introduced in the first volume in this series. A famous and highly placed Mafioso has requested that Gege arrange a meeting between the Inspector and this individual, and the consequences flowing from this meeting form the backdrop for much of the storyline which dominates the early part of the book. There is another element of the story which at first appears unrelated but in typical Camilleri fashion is eventually interwoven with the main plot, this involves a strange supermarket heist in the middle of the night only to have the loot found in an abandoned truck the next day. Unexpected deaths and attempted murders soon occur, and the trail of events leads Montalbano to a mysterious mountain hiding place for contraband and the eventual discovery of evidence of a fifty year old crime in a hidden and long sealed grotto watched over by THE TERRA-COTTA DOG whose presence is the basis for the title of the book.As the story proceeds. Montalbano's life itself is threatened, and the resultant events ironically enough provide him with the opportunity to engage in a digression from his police work and satisfy his curiosity regarding the long ago tableau which he literally unearthed. This is both a police procedural and a character study, and it succeeds wonderfully in both respects. Part of the charm is that many of the characters from the earlier story appear, providing continuity and a feeling of familiarity. We gradually become better acquainted with the Inspector's police associates, as well as with his personality quirks and eating and reading habits. Finally, a scene where Livia (his friend and lover), Anna (the young woman infatuated with him), and Ingrid (the beautiful foreigner whom he has secretly helped in return for her secret aid in his investigations) all appear simultaneously to express their concern for his safety is a wonderful moment. Thus, some part of my greater enjoyment of this book than the first volume clearly resulted from the fact that in the tradition of other successful detective series this book continued and bui

THE TERRA-COTTA DOG - Heels for the dead

A most-wanted Italian mob boss invites series character Inspector Montalbano to a personal meeting - and to an odd agreement to stage the Mafioso's arrest and detainment. This new mutual respect, between cop and capo, leads to a cave that has entombed two dead and entwined lovers for fifty years.How do you solve a crime that occurred in Sicily during World War II? The Inspector is obsessed with the case, and searches for all of the relevant clues, from former family and friends, to the meaning of the terra-cotta dog, along with the other artifacts that were found alongside of the lovers. What follows is a very clever tale and trail of answers. While this mystery unfolds, the storyline reveals the Inspector's complex human nature, and his enigmatic relationships with his girlfriend, co-workers and bosses. The Inspector is passionate, quirky, self-righteous and egotistical. This leads to some bizarre personal behaviors. For example, when Montalbano, who is a cop, learns of the rape and incest of a friend, he chooses a very much out-of-bounds and non-legal method of dealing with the perp. So much for being a cop. THE TERRA-COTTA DOG is more than a single-dimension murder mystery. It is literature-like in its look at human relations, and the realities and rationalizations that make these characters tick. But as a murder mystery, by way of the Inspector's astute police methods, it doesn't get any better than this.

A Stunning Triumph!

The Terra-Cotta Dog is an extremely rewarding police procedural with deep cultural and historical roots that provide a delightful complexity for the reader. I would award this book six stars if I could. If you have not yet read any of the Inspector Montalbano books, I suggest that you take the time to read The Shape of Water first. That book helps set up the context of the characters and makes The Terra-Cotta Dog far more interesting. The book has Inspector Montalbano solving several mysteries before he is done. In a fascinating way, each mystery leads unexpectedly into the next one. And so on. It's like opening the Russian nesting dolls to find another treasure inside. I can rarely recall such fine plotting and seamless connections between disparate story elements in one police procedural. As the book opens, Montalbano has been invited to meet secretly with a dangerous killer. Is it a trap? Why would the killer want to meet with a police inspector? The answer leads to a merry-go-round of public relations activities to cover up the real motive. Then, the charade collapses and Montalbano finds out about an unknown crime. More public relations follow . . . and from them Montalbano gets a clue to other hidden crimes. The rest of the novel reminded me of an archeologist's work in uncovering earlier civilizations that built on the same site. The main contexts for these mysteries are the Sicilian Mafia, the Fascist era, the American invasion of Sicily during World War II, and the Christian and Moslem religions. How's that for an unusual combination? Montalbano emerges as an even more interesting character in this book than in The Shape of Water, especially as his relationship with his girl friend Livia develops. As before, the food references are a delight and add a warm human touch to offset the evil that coils throughout the story.As I finished the story, I was reminded how important it is to be dogged in chasing down details that don't seem to make sense. There's always an explanation for mysteries, but the explanation will never be revealed unless you follow the path to the answer wherever it takes you.

Utterly Charming!

The second Inspector Montalbano book to appear in English (following The Shape of Water) begins with a high-level Mafia figure arranging for his own arrest by Montalbano and a seemingly innocuous nighttime heist from a grocery store. However nothing is simple in Sicilian underworld, and soon Montalbano's curiosity has him looking into the heist as he desperately avoids getting a promotion for his high-profile arrest. When this leads to the discovery of bodies sealed up fifty years ago in a strange tableau, the Inspector becomes determined to unravel the mystery of their death.As in the first book, the main pleasure comes from watching him elegantly glide through this old crime, digging up the dirt from WWII, when the Allies drove the German and Italian forces off the island. Camilleri is old enough to recall those times, and his firsthand knowledge seeps through the voices of the old-timers Montalbano interviews. Meanwhile, he's also dealing with his long-distance girlfriend who just wants to go on vacation with him, and the troubles of his beautiful Swedish friend. He's an entertaining hero, realistic about what he can do within the constraints of the highly political and corrupt system, and willing to bend rules himself, but always tempered with compassion and empathy. Another deftly translated and beautifully understated mystery that gives a very tangible sense of Sicily.Note: Throughout the book, the Inspector is reading one of Spanish author Manuel Vasquez Montalban's Pepe Carvalho mysteries.