Voice of the Violin - (Inspector Montalbano Mystery) by Andrea Camilleri (Paperback)

About the Book

Montalbano's gruesome discovery of a lovely, naked young woman suffocated in her bed immediately sets him on a search for her killer. Among the many suspects is a mysterious, reclusive violinist who holds the key to this crime.

Book Synopsis

"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

Inspector Montalbano, praised as "a delightful creation" (USA Today), has been compared to the legendary detectives of Georges Simenon, Dashiell Hammett, and Raymond Chandler. As the fourth mystery in the internationally bestselling series opens, Montalbano's gruesome discovery of a lovely, naked young woman suffocated in her bed immediately sets him on a search for her killer. Among the suspects are her aging husband, a famous doctor; a shy admirer, now disappeared; an antiques-dealing lover from Bologna; and the victim's friend Anna, whose charms Montalbano cannot help but appreciate... But it is a mysterious, reclusive violinist who holds the key to the murder.

Review Quotes

Praise for Andrea Camilleri and the Montalbano Series

"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

"[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)

"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

About the Author

Andrea Camilleri's Montalbano mystery series, bestsellers in Italy and Germany, has been adapted for Italian television and translated into German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, Japanese, Dutch, and Swedish. He lives in Rome.
Stephen Sartarelli lives in upstate New York.