Death in Sicily: The First Three Novels in the Inspector Montalbano Series--The Shape of Water; The Terra-Cotta Dog; The Snack Thief (An Inspector Montalbano Mystery)

I have been in Sicily . To prepare my trip I start read ing a few books: 3 fantastic ones by Norwich, two tourist guides, one book from Jaqueline Alio, two about mosaics of the Norman times. During my trip I read these three books of Camilieri.. More history and sociology than the supposed criminal novel. Inspector Montalbano shares the communists of the early thirties wrong perception of themselves : that they are heroes , that they could shape the things as they like, that they are above the law. Personally he do not show a minimum of emotional inteligence , is a tipical “ macho man”, proud of himself , conceited , treats subordinates in a deplorable fashion. He is not corrupt neither a man with a normal relationship with woman or other men. Kind of a half monk lost in the middle of a permanent bachanal, probably modelled by Camilieri after a mix of a gourmand ( a typical gauche caviar) and Robin Wood. BUT : These 3 books make me understand Sicily more than all the others together.As you see I have mixed feelings about the quality. Aniway I bought a box with the 18 first novels of Camilieri / Montalbano. It is the real thing!

I read the first three books by Camilleri (in one volume) and just bought the next seven (which came in a set of ten so I have doubles of the first three). While these are more typical police procedural mysteries - Montalbano is a police inspector in a small Sicily town - these are well written. The inspector is a bit of a Sherlock Holmes, but you get a great sense of Sicilian life and politics. The author writes well and makes Montalbano thoughtful, although emotional too. It is interesting seeing how a Sicilian thinks and lives; I trust it is somewhat true to life given that Camilleri was Italian. Montalbano is fun to watch in action. He's smart and does his level best to maintain his life style despite the failures of those around him and the efforts of his superiors to promote him. He also loves food and your mouth sometimes starts to water from the food descriptions. I've went to Sicily long ago. I wish I had read these before and during that trip.

Having just completed my third reread of the entire canon of the fictional detective from Montenegro, I felt it would be amusing to investigate the fictional detective Montalbano. I only heard of these books through a magazine article at the doctor's office! Anyway, before reading them I did not know whether they were originally written in English or in Italian. I found the first book to be awfully heavy, and it had that somewhat clumsy "obviously translated from a foreign language" feel. But I liked the characterizations, even though most of the cultural references flew right over my head, and kept reading, and by the end of the third book I was thoroughly charmed and immediately bought the next three. They still do have that slightly clumsy feel, and most of the cultural references still do escape me, but these are not always particularly a problem. In any case the appendix notes help to explain some of it. I am particularly fond of Catarella, who is such a dope! I'll keep buying them and reading them.

We just returned from a week and half in Sicily. Our Italian tour guide is a huge Montalbano fan, both the books and videos. She pointed out a number of places that show up in the videos and told us what places inspired the fictional locations in Camilleri's books. Since the first three are in this single volume, I went ahead and made the purchase. Since these are translations, I can't say whether anything got lost in the English version, but all three are thoroughly enjoyable. I really enjoyed the sensuous descriptions of the various meals Montalbano eats along the way. Having experienced the local cuisine, I can appreciate his enjoyment.The only reason I don't give the books five stars that that Montalbano himself is kind of unpleasant. He disrespects his coworkers and is downright rude to people he doesn't much like. He sounds like someone I'd love solving any crimes perpetrated against me, but I'd probably never want to have a glass of wine with. Sharing a meal would be OK since his cardinal rule of eating is "no talking".Anyway, I've already download the Kindle version of book 4.

The cranky but life-loving Inspector Montalbano grows on you within these first three novels. I think all detective series should have a starter collection like this! At first I thought I wouldn't care for these books, as sometimes the humor is quite earthy and coarse. The other saving grace of this character is his love of food, and this makes me want to visit Sicily to see for myself! Luckily what coarseness there is doesn't overwhelm the story or the character development, and is in keeping with the depiction of Sicily and its robust people. I feel this series character already outshines the characterization of a certain Swedish detective (in another series) by great degrees -- and now I find there are many more books to be read, which makes me quite happy!As for the poor, blind reader who found the books hard to read, I sympathize but being near-sighted I still found I could hold the book in one hand in the bathtub while shampooing my head with the other and could still make it out at half-arm's length, so it passes my readability (and durability) test! If you love detective series with an interesting character and believable plots, this is a good one to try out via this collection.

This is three tales of an Italy the likes you are unlikely to see in any other book, stories that are quirky from the beginning right to the end and the reason is that Inspector Montalbano is an original character.And its a bit of delicious devilment to read these three novels featuring the smart but strangely odd detective as he takes on three cases with twists and turns and wild surprises, all the while getting to know about the detective's co-workers and his love life. This is delightfully silly and fun reading and not much thought to have to put into understanding what is going on. It's enough to know if the sun is shining, Montalbano is in his element and will figure out all the various threads in these tales.

The first three novels in the now famous Montalbano series, with charismatic protagonist leading the way in beautifully evoked Sicilian world.

Like the previous reviewer this is repackaging of the first three novels - it's called Death in Sicily not New Windmills - The Flawed Glass. I have these three novels already. Now I have the nuisance of paying for return postage.Where does The Flawed Glass title come from? Where does it say New Windmills on the book? Is this an error by Amazon?

With the title 'New Windmills: the Flawed Glass' I thought I was getting a new novel by the author instead of which I got the first three novels which I have already read! Why is it entitled 'New Windmills: the Flawed Glass' I don't get the connection, in future I must pay better attention.

Carta sottilissima e volume corposo. Quindi esteticamente non il massimo, ma ovviamente conta di piu' il contenuto.

Mr. Camilleri was an author new to me -- and with his first three novels in one, inexpensive volume, worth a try. I am very glad I did. Besides opening a window on another and fascinating culture -- that of Sicily -- which shares many values and perspectives with the one I live in, I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Inspector Montalbo, apparently the only moral law enforcer in Sicily! The tales are interestingly complicated, but not so much you loose the thread(s), and shot through with humor of all sorts -- bawdy jokes, clever comebacks, temper tantrums, silly encounters, for example. I laughed out loud many times at the scenes I had just read. I also appreciated the effort Camilleri and his translator made to educate the reader into the intricacies of Sicilian law enforcement and politics I will be returning to Vigata in the near future to enjoy the ongoing adventures of this wily, complicated detective.