A Nest of Vipers

I met Comissario Montalbano during the glorious yet brief era when MhZ played the TV series on one of our local channels, and immediately began hunting down the original books, reading one after another as soon as I could tear open the mail order envelope. As always, the end notes by translator Stephen Satarelli provide valuable insights into the physical and cultural environment and to particular turns of phrase. Of course, a series of over twenty books (and counting) will have its highlights as well as low points. I have to admit that there has been a gradual, incremental decline in the later entries in the series. One of the charms of the books is how Montalbano is a constant in a world that is evolving--or devolving--around him (shades of Philip Marlowe). The problem is that the decline of the world... and the mysteries themselves... are also developing definite consistency, if not sameness. This is not nearly as charming. This entry comes across as especially flat. I suspected that it was an old outline that was revisited and minimally worked up to make is suitable for publication. It turned out to be something similar--an author's note at the end (containing spoilers, so don't read it before the story) indicates it was written some years ago but then withheld because of similarities to a sightly prior book in the series. I'm guessing that some of the background detail was trimmed away or muted to disguise its original order in the sequence. I don't think it is too presumptuous to assert that other fans of Montalbano and completists will at least enjoy revisiting the detective and the town of Montelusa. More casual mystery readers would probably get more out of the earlier installments.