Treasure Hunt: 16 (An Inspector Montalbano Mystery)

Praise for Andrea Camilleri and the Montalbano Series

"Camilleri's Inspector Montalbano mysteries might sell like hotcakes in Europe, but these world-weary crime stories were unknown here until the oversight was corrected (in Stephen Sartarelli's salty translation) by the welcome publication of The Shape of Water...This savagely funny police procedural...prove[s] that sardonic laughter is a sound that translates ever so smoothly into English."--The New York Times Book Review

"Hailing from the land of Umberto Eco and La Cosa Nostra, Montalbano can discuss a pointy-headed book like Western Attitudes Toward Death as unflinchingly as he can pore over crime-scene snuff photos. He throws together an extemporaneous lunch of shrimp with lemon and oil as gracefully as he dodges advances from attractive women."--Los Angeles Times

"[Camilleri's mysteries] offer quirky characters, crisp dialogue, bright storytelling--and Salvo Montalbano, one of the most engaging protagonists in detective fiction...Montalbano is a delightful creation, an honest man on Siciliy's mean streets."--USA Today

"Camilleri is as crafty and charming a writer as his protagonist is an investigator."--The Washington Post Book World

"Like Mike Hammer or Sam Spade, Montalbano is the kind of guy who can't stay out of trouble...Still, deftly and lovingly translated by Stephen Sartarelli, Camilleri makes it abundantly clear that under the gruff, sardonic exterior our inspector has a heart of gold, and that any outburst, fumbles, or threats are made only in the name of pursuing truth."--The Nation

"Camilleri can do a character's whole backstory in half a paragraph."--The New Yorker

"Subtle, sardonic, and molto simpatico: Montalbano is the Latin re-creation of Philip Marlowe, working in a place that manages to be both more and less civilized than chandler' Los Angeles."--Kirkus Reviews (starred)

“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 York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window

A hail of bullets interrupts a period of dead calm. An elderly brother and sister open fire on the plaza below their apartment, punishing the people of Vigàta for their sins. News cameras capture Montalbano—gun in hand—as he scales the building to capture the ancient snipers. Inside he finds a nightmarish world of religious objects and a well-worn inflatable sex doll that will come back to haunt him. The Inspector is hailed as a hero after the televised adventure and calm returns. But Montalbano begins to receive cryptic messages in verse, challenging him to go on a "treasure hunt." Intrigued, he accepts, treating the messages as amusing riddles—until they take a dangerous turn.