Riccardino (Inspector Montalbano Series #28)

by Andrea Camilleri, Stephen Sartarelli (Translator)

Overview

The long-awaited last novel in the transporting and beloved New York Times bestselling Inspector Montalbano series

"At eighty, I foresaw Montalbano's departure from the scene, I got the idea and I didn't let it slip away. So I found myself writing this novel which is the final chapter; the last book in the series. And I sent it to my publisher saying to keep it in a drawer and to publish it only when I am gone." –Andrea Camilleri
 
Montalbano receives an early-morning phone call, but this time it's not Catarella announcing a murder, but a man called Riccardino who's dialed a wrong number and asks him when he'll be arriving at the meeting. Montalbano, in irritation, says: "In ten minutes." Shortly after, he gets another call, this one announcing the customary murder. A man has been shot and killed outside a bar in front of his three friends. It turns out to be the same man who called him.
 
Thus begins an intricate investigation further complicated by phone calls from "the Author" in tour de force of metafiction and Montalbano’s last case.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780525508298
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	09/21/2021
Series:	Inspector Montalbano Series , #28
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	279,087
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Andrea Camilleri, a mega-bestseller in Italy and Germany, is the author of the New York Times bestselling Inspector Montalbano mystery series as well as historical novels that take place in nineteenth-century Sicily. His books have been made into Italian TV shows and translated into thirty-two languages. His thirteenth Montalbano novel, The Potter's Field, won the Crime Writers' Association International Dagger Award and was longlisted for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. He died in 2019.

Stephen Sartarelli is an award-winning translator and the author of three books of poetry.

Editorial Reviews

★ 07/26/2021

In an amusing metafictional twist, Camilleri (1925–2019) plays a part in his elegiac 28th and final mystery featuring Sicilian police inspector Salvo Montalbano (after The Cook of the Halcyon). Just shy of five o’clock in the morning, Montalbano’s phone rings. The caller identifies himself as Riccardino and says, “We’re all here already, outside the Bar Aurora, and you’re the only one missing!” Peeved at being disturbed, Montalbano tells the stranger he’ll be right there, hangs up, and goes back to bed. A second call comes an hour later—from his police colleagues, who ask him to come to the Bar Aurora to investigate the murder of Riccardo Lopresti. Montalbano feels “strangely certain—with a certainty as absolute as it was inexplicable—that the poor bastard who was shot was the same person who had called him on the phone before dawn by dialing a wrong number.” As motives begin to multiply, Montalbano’s investigation is muddled by phone calls from “the Author” spouting far-fetched suggestions on how to proceed. Incisive wit colors this insightful and intriguing farewell. The sad, poetic ending is perfect. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

07/30/2021

Andrea Camilleri (1925–2019) was a prolific and often profound writer of mysteries. His stunning "Inspector Montalbano" series now spans 28 titles; many of his works were adapted for television and film. In this final series installment (after The Cook of the Halcyon), a man is shot in front of his friends as they gather for an early-morning walk. Inspector Montalbano begins the novel feeling the weight of his age and his work as a police detective. He begins to unravel the case built on half-truth witness statements, a shady henchman, and a department that wants results. But this isn't your typical murder mystery. As in real life, this novel becomes metafiction. Montalbano is well known, and his fame and success as a detective has spurred television shows and novels. While he works the case, he fights with his commander at the police station, the public who demand answers, and even an author who is writing about the inspector's latest caper. VERDICT Camilleri's series finale busts out of the traditional mystery genre to give fans an inspiring, thoughtful, and humorous farewell to a beloved character.—Ron Samul, New London, CT

Library Journal

Grover Gardner creates a wonderful narration for the final episode of Andrea Camilieri’s bestselling Inspector Montalbano series. In a metafictional twist, the novel plunges Montalbano and author Camilieri into the heart of the its action. In the morning’s wee hours, an irritated Montalbano answers a wrong number call from someone called Riccardino. Soon, he gets another call about a murder. The victim is the earlier caller. Gardner deftly slips between “the author” whose books have made Montalbano a famous TV detective and Montalbano himself. Gardner gives the assortment of familiar minor characters identifiable voices and personalities. Written when Camilieri was in his 80s but held back until after his death at 95, this is a deliciously convoluted mystery, which Gardner laces with gravitas and humor. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

DECEMBER 2021 - AudioFile