"The Sicilian dialect . . . as rendered in Sartarelli's adept translation, provides comic relief. Camilleri fans are in for a treat."
--Publishers Weekly "[
The Overnight Kidnapper is] another wry, amiable procedural from the prolific Camilleri, whose unflappably put-upon hero soldiers on no matter how absurd the crime or aggravating the situation."
--Kirkus Reviews Praise for Andrea Camilleri and the Montalbano Series:
"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 "The idiosyncratic Montalbano is totally endearing." --
The New York Times "Camilleri is as crafty and charming a writer as his protagonist is an investigator." --
The Washington Post Book World "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 "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's Los Angeles." --
Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"The novels of Andrea Camilleri breathe out the sense of place, the sense of humor, and the sense of despair that fills the air of Sicily." --Donna Leon