The Safety Net (Inspector Montalbano Mysteries Book 25)

Chief Inspector Montalbano is about to be seriously inconvenienced when a film crew arrives in town to make a television series set in the 1950s. The townspeople are asked to see if they have any momentos from that time and an engineer finds some old film that his father had taken every year on the same date between 1958 and 1963: a film showing the wall of an old barn. Intrigued, Montalbano starts to look into the matter, but he is distracted when a pair of gunmen threaten a classroom full of young teenagers, including Mimi’s young son. How these investigations are connected, and what he learns from them, will come to surprise Montalbano once again….”The Safety Net” is the 25th and, alas, the last of the Montalbano series; Camilleri died a few years ago, but the English translation of this final novel just came out in 2020. As ever, Montalbano is more or less stumbling in the dark until, suddenly, he isn’t; and his faithful team trusts that he knows what he’s doing even if he is sure he does not. And food, of course, is at the heart of the story, or at least helps to supply its soul. I suppose one could read this book without having read any of the rest of the series, but this is a series where starting at the beginning is really worth doing. And someone new to reading Camilleri will have the joy of knowing there are fully 25 of these books (along with some novellas) ahead of them (I’m already jealous)! Recommended!

Very good Characters, especially main. Keeps you interested. Now I want to read more & there’s many. Easy to see why could be televised.

I love series of books because they allow me to get to know and grow with a character and travel with them on many adventures. So I read a lot of series. By far, by VERY far, this is the best of them. The character of Montalbano has grown and changed over the years as any REAL person would. But what I find most astonishing is that a man of the authors' age (he died at age 93 in 2019 and wrote this book at age 90) could so easily capture and understand the world of young people and their use and love of all things internet. He nailed it. This book , has two intertwined mysteries and I didn't figure them out. That is another thing I like about this series. The answer is not immediately obvious. You have to read and pay attention to what is going on. Read this one, but start at the beginning and come to know and love Montalbano and laugh at some of the others. My FIRST FAVORITE? "The Terra-Cotta Dog." #2 of the #28 series thus far. ENJOY....THOROUGHLY.

In the ten months since Camillieri died (I only learned of him from the praises in his obits), I've read all 25 of the Montalbano novels (plus a bunch of short stories, which by the way, are excellent). It was with some sadness that I began his last novel. I think it's his best. You'll likely figure out the solution to the first mystery, that occupies the start of the book, before he does, but that doesn't matter. The novel overall is just wonderful -- resolving many things (Livia and Montalbano end with no rancor between them) and touching base on many other elements common to all the novels, and ending up with some very sweet valedictory scenes. It does seem that Camillieri (who adds in a note at the that this was his first dictated novel, after losing his eyesight) knew he was setting down his pen.

Sadly, Andrea Camilleri died in 2019 but has left this book and, I think, another which I pre-ordered, to be published posthumously. I have read all 25 of the Montalbano books and they just seem to get better with each new book. I love the characters and feel like they are old friends and the mysteries are always interesting and not easily solved by the reader. This book featured two separate mysteries and interestingly juxtaposed a story about a young boy who was a tech genius and an unsolved mystery that took place in the 1950s. Very ingenious plotting.When there are no more Montalbano books to buy, I will just have to re-read the entire series again.

I am reading this book whilst in total lockdown in northern Italy in March 2020, so like many of my friends are finding it difficult to concentrate on complicated stories . This is the perfect type of book for my current situation. I enjoyed the book , although it is by no means his best .

I don't know how much of this was due to Camilleri's aging, or how much may be due to translation choices, but I was completely misled by all the things going on in this book. My first feeling was that Mimi had set up the school scenario to look heroic in front of Montalbano (after Montalbano had 'punished' him with the fake stakeout). Then it seemed like the school scenario was a setup by the film crew. This was later reinforced by discussions that the kids in that classroom had been chosen to act in a school scene for the film. Then too, I thought perhaps Salvuzzo's "bully story" was a coverup for Mimi beating him. So the whole time I read it, I was waiting for one of these things to be a reveal, but none of them were. There were a few giggle moments at phrasing (mostly Catarella-related), and I'm sure on a reread I'll enjoy it more, but overall it was fairly baffling to me, as a long-time reader of the series.

I love this latest installment (translated into English from Italian) of the Detective Montalbano series by Italian author Andrea Camilleri. I've read all the prior 20+ novels in this series set in a small Sicilian town. Since the author recently passed away, there are only several more novels in this series awaiting translation into English. I recommend ALL of the Detective Montalbano novels! They are colorful, entertaining, and humorous.

It’s a book. We’re going to read it. Please stop the silly questions

Camilleri’s Montalbano never lets the reader down.

What a loss. This book - like every other in the series - was funny and interesting. These are the only books that I literally laugh out loud when reading. For sheer joy of reading these books are fantastic.

Camilleri non delude mai! Impareggiabile bravissimo

Great. Writer and teacher of Sicilian cookery vocabulary A pleasure to have read and learnt about southern Italy and it's culture