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Private Notes
Who is the man behind Inspector Montalbano? An intimate portrait of acclaimed Italian novelist Andrea Camilleri gives us access to the man himself, his work and personal history, including Camilleri's undying attachment to his native Sicily.
Detective Montalbano investigates the murder of a local businessman called Lapecora. Lapecora's widow suspects that he was killed by his lover Karima, a young Tunisian woman who mysteriously disappeared on the day of the murder. After succeeding in tracking down Karima's five-year-old son Francois, Montalbano realises that the case might be linked to that of a Tunisian man, also killed in mysterious circumstances on the same day that Lapecora died. Meanwhile, Montalbano's partner Livia, who has been entrusted with looking after Francois, becomes very attached to the young orphaned boy.
When the naked dead body of a young woman is found in a villa outside Vigata, Montalbano discovers that she had recently bought the villa and was in the process of restoring it using her wealthy husband's money. When the case is taken from Montalbano and given to rival inspector Panzacchi from nearby Montelusa, Panzacchi draws some easy conclusions and the investigation risks going badly off course. Will a proud Montalbano stick his neck out to regain control of the case or will he allow his incompetent colleagues to pin the murder on the wrong suspect?
Mr Luparello, a renowned local engineer and leading political figure, is found dead in a car at a notorious prostitution spot on the outskirts of Vigata. The coroner rules that he died of a heart attack following an amorous encounter. Fending off pressure from prominent ecclesiastical figures who wish to keep the case under wraps and navigating the intricacies of local party politics, Montalbano goes about making sense of the available evidence, including the incongruous discovery of an expensive necklace found at the site of the murder.
A criminal turned state witness informs Montalbano of an arms stash in a cave just outside Vigata. Also uncovered in the cave is a secret chamber where the bodies of two lovers, killed sometime in the 1940s, were buried in a bizarre ritual. An intrigued Montalbano must challenge the Mafia and deal with the arms cache before he can investigate this second find.
A young Don Juan is found murdered in front of his apartment building and an elderly couple are reported missing after an excursion to the ancient site of Tindari. Inspector Montalbano tries to solve these two seemingly unrelated cases amid the daily complications of life at Vigata police station. But when he discovers that the couple and the murdered young man lived in the same building, his investigation stumbles onto Sicily's brutal 'New Mafia' and leads him down a path more twisted and far-reaching than any he has ever been down before.
Goldsmith Alberto Larussa appears to have committed suicide by turning his wheelchair into an electric chair. But Inspector Montalbano discovers that the dead man's will, which leaves everything to his brother Giacomo, was forged. Giacomo is arrested, but he maintains that he did not kill Alberto. Meanwhile, Deputy Inspector Mimi' Augello is working on the case of a mysteriously-murdered electrician.
The seemingly accidental death of a blind man leads Montalbano to an island off the coast of Siciliy. Here the Inspector discovers that both the murder victim and a local fisherman had each deposited huge sums of money in their respective bank accounts. Following the mysterious demise of a second man, who was also blind, the investigation begins to focus on the operations of a charitable foundation which increasingly looks not so charitable after all.
As the small town of Vigata prepares for its New Year celebrations, local police inspector Salvo Montalbano is reluctantly making arrangements to travel to Paris with his girlfriend. What he would much rather do, however, is accept a dinner invitation by his cleaner Adelina, who has promised to cook rice croquettes. A wealthy husband and wife are found dead in what appears to be a car accident, but quickly turns into a murder investigation. And as the circumstances surrounding the death of the couple grow more and more mysterious, clues point to the involvement of Adelina's son Pasquale.
Investor Emanuele Gargano has disappeared with the savings entrusted to him by the people of Montelusa. Montalbano's investigation brings him into contact with some of Gargano's staff - his obsessively loyal secretary Mariastella Cosentino and the provocative Michela Manganaro. Meanwhile, Augello is getting cold feet about the prospect of his wedding.
A series of mysterious muggings takes place in Vigata, ending in tragedy when one of the victims is killed. Meanwhile, a man virtually destroys the emergency room at the hospital after finding out that his young daughter is pregnant. A local doctor is also missing and presumed dead. Montalbano investigates all three cases, gradually uncovering the links between them.
Montalbano finds a decomposed body floating in the water during his morning swim, and that's just the start of the water-borne tragedies.
The murder of Angelo Bonpensiero would appear to be the start of a mafia war. Montalbano has his doubts. He is then taken off the case and assigned to investigate the disappearance of a young Ukrainian woman, seemingly unrelated to the previous case he will find out that he should have trusted his instinct after all...
The kidnapping of Susanna Mistretta puzzles Montalbano. Her family, once wealthy, has fallen on hard times. Only her uncle, Antonio Peruzzo, a successful local businessman hoping to enter politics, could possibly pay the large ransom. Digging deeper into the family's affairs Montalbano realizes that Peruzzo was the cause of the family's financial ruin and that Susanna is not really in danger after all...
The death of a local construction tycoon Girolamo Cascio leads Montalbano back to the murder of Cascio's leading competitor, Giacomo Alletto, who was shot and killed two decades earlier, a crime pinned on the man's business partner, Rocco Pennisi who was sent to jail. Lead as ever by his infallible gut feeling, Montalbano unearths a twenty year-old conspiracy.
While a guest at the rented beach house of a fellow officer and his family, Montalbano discovers the body of Rina, a young woman who had disappeared six years earlier, in a trunk. As he begins his investigation, Montalbano falls prey to a burning passion for the dead woman's twin sister Adriana. She helps him search for the murderer, but, at the same time, she drives him wild, to the point where he unwittingly starts carrying out her plans for vengeance.
The naked body of a young woman that has been shot in the face is found at a dumpsite. On her shoulder is the same tattooed butterfly as had all the other eastern European girls that have found shelter at the local church. When Montalbano starts his investigation, the bishop has a strange reaction. The police chief pressures him into leaving the bishop alone and Livia pressures him into taking her someplace nice, to sort things out. As usual, Montalbano solves the case. But his personal life is in a pretty bad shape...
A badly injured horse dies on the beach in front of Montalbano's house. The investigation opened by the Chief detective brings him into contact with elegant races organized by local nobles, as well as the secret contests held by the mafia for illegal betting. Montalbano even meets a beautiful horsewoman who is a friend of Ingrid's. Avoiding the distractions placed in his way, Montalbano solves the case with a crafty strategy, even clearing the faithful Galluzzo of a murder charge.
Wealthy womanizer Angelo Pardo is killed in what seems to be a crime of passion. But Montalbano, as usual, refuses to trust appearances and carries out the investigation his way, delving into the victim's past and talking with anyone who may be involved in the case, including a number of politicians who start dying one after the other, victims of a bad batch of cocaine. In the end Montalbano faces the toughest challenge of his career: to try to comprehend the female psyche to solve this crime.
In a dreadful morning a body cut into pieces and wrapped in a plastic bag is found in a clay deposit. All the signs point to an old-fashioned mafia style execution of a traitor. Strangely enough, Mimì Augello who lately has been unusually irritable and short-tempered, is now driving the entire police station crazy. Augello insists on being assigned to the case and, if he doesn’t get it, is threatening to request a new assignment elsewhere.
Fazio is missing. He's not at home, his mobile is switched off and he missed a meeting with his father who couldn't find him anywhere. Montalbano is convinced that Fazio started an investigation on his own, and he's probably in great trouble. Following Fazio's tracks, signs of shooting are found on a spot, and an informer reports having seen the young officer captured by two criminals who were planning to throw him in a dried well. Montalbano's search becomes more and more dramatic and frantic, and even if Fazio seems definitely vanished, he's determined to find him alive at all costs.
An elderly couple, both religious fanatics, barricade themselves in their home and begin shooting from the windows and balconies apparently with no reason. Montalbano’s men finally succeed in disarming them: there seems to be no reason for this insane action but inside the home they find a strangely disfigured inflatable doll. A few days later, when an identical doll is discovered in a garbage bin, Montalbano has a bad premonition.
Montalbano wakes up from a nightmare: he dreamt of his funeral, and his bad mood gets worse as the stormy weather floods Vigàta. On his way to the police station, he runs into Vanna Digiulio, a girl just arrived from Palermo to meet her aunt, Livia Giovannini, who’s reaching Vigàta’s harbour on her yacht. As soon as Vanna’s aunt lands in Vigàta later than expected due to the discovery of a corpse at sea, Vanna disappears. Since Livia gets surprised as Montalbano asks after her niece, he starts doubting about the truth of the girl’s real identity.
A series of burglaries takes place at the houses of wealthy Vigata residents. One of the victims is a beguiling young bank manager called Angelica, to whom Salvo finds he is soon attracted. As the investigation progresses, Montalbano starts to suspect that the burglaries might be a cover for something rather more sinister.
A bomb goes off outside an empty store-room in a quiet Vigata street. Montalbano commences his investigation, but is soon disorientated by a series of disparate events, including the acquaintance of an attractive and mysterious woman.
A supermarket controlled by the Mafia is robbed, setting off a chain of events in which the Mafia's political links start to transpire.
A woman is attacked and robbed on her way home late at night, but the case leaves Montalbano wondering whether there isn't more to the story.
Montalbano is visiting Livia in Boccadasse when he is called back to Vigata to investigate the murder of a 70-year-old prostitute - as well as disturbing accusations at an elementary school.
A man's body is found inside an industrial pipe on a building site. Montalbano and Fazio manage to identify the victim and try to contact his missing wife. Meanwhile, journalist Lucia Gambardella reaches out to Montalbano with information on a local corruption ring involving fraudulent building contracts.
Businessman Cosimo Barletta is found dead in his holiday home, with a gunshot to the head. Montalbano's investigation reveals a series of unexpected facts about the man's life and death - starting with the discovery of an archive of photographs of young women and continuing with the autopsy results, which indicate there might have been more to the man's killing than had initially met the eye. Salvo meets with Barletta's disowned son Arturo, and is helped along the investigation by Arturo's mysterious sister, Giovanna.
A young woman is found dead and naked in the foyer of an apartment block, her body showing signs of what can only have been a brutal and sexually motivated murder. Montalbano sets out to investigate the circumstances surrounding the girl's death, but every one of the block's inhabitants claims to never have met her before. Someone must be lying.
A local shop is burned down in a clear case of arson. Its owner seems to have disappeared into thin air. Montalbano investigates, but is also kept busy by multiple reports of strange kidnappings in which female victims are abducted and released unharmed shortly after, with all of their possessions untouched and for no apparent reason.
The disappearance of the beautiful girl put to the test inspector's ability to break the maze of fatal frauds and romantic feelings.
While the incessant landings of migrants continue on the coast of Sicily and the humanitarian emergency has the Vigàta police station at full stretch, Salvo and his men also find themselves grappling with a brutal case: the body of a beautiful young girl, a friend of Livia's, is found in her dressmaker's shop. The injuries found on the woman's body denote a particular ferocity, suggesting a murder with unknown ramifications.
Montalbano investigates the murder of an elderly man in his home and the discovery of a hidden diary from 1943, theorizing they may be connected somehow.
It's high summer in Vigata and the murdered body of a young woman, Agata Cosentino, is found in the municipal archives where she worked. But the building was supposed to be closed for the holidays, so what was Agata doing there? Meanwhile, Adelina's wayward son Pasquale is engaged in a stand-off with a local security guard, Romildo Bufardeci, a former classmate from elementary school who is now intent on putting a stop to Pasquale’s petty criminality. As chief law enforcer, Montalbano must investigate any wrongdoings while also navigating the rivalry between the two men.
A Swedish film troupe arrives to shoot a period drama in Vigata. Augello immediately takes a shine to the production's female lead. When Montalbano intervenes in a case of bullying at a local school, a town resident asks the inspector to unearth the story behind a collection of mysterious home movies found in his dead father's attic.
Commissioner Montalbano investigates the murder of Carmelo Catalanotti usurer and fervent and original theater artist, soul and founder of Trinacriarte, a very active amateur theater company from Vigàta, of which he was the guru. A guru who knew how to be brilliant, but also cruel and sadistic, so much so that Montalbano realizes that it is precisely in his conception of tragic art and his very personal and disturbing method that the solution of the mystery of his death must be sought. But it is above all in his private sphere that the Commissioner must clarify and that he sees him overwhelmed by the passion for a young colleague
