Book Description
The number of Inspector Montalbano fans will continue to grow with this ingenious new novel featuring the earthy and urbane Sicilian detective. Half the retirees in Vig`ata have invested their savings with a financial wizard who has disappeared, along with their money. As Montalbano investigates this labyrinthine financial scam, he finds himself at a serious disadvantage: a hostile superior has shut him out of the case, he's on the outs with his lover Livia, and his cherished Sicily is turning so ruthless and vulgar that Montalbano wonders if any part of it is worth saving. Drenched with atmosphere, crackling with wit, The Smell of the Night is Camilleri at his most addictive.
Customer Reviews:
Amusing Montalbano Quirks and Follies While Pursuing a Minor Mystery.......2007-08-16
The Smell of the Night is the only one of the first six books to lack a decent mystery. Inspector Montalbano is as amusing as ever as he trashes an uninhabited villa, challenges a tease, deals with the remnants of incompetent laundering, desperately searches for new places to dine, tries to show he isn't really middle-aged, and solves a crime he isn't supposed to go near. There's the usual byplay at the station as Catarella mangles words and Fazio tries to inveigle Montalbano to sign stacks of paperwork for hours. In between, there are delicious meals and quiet interludes to think things over.
The book's plot involves a missing financier, Emanuele Gargano, who appears to have been running a Ponzi scheme (paying out large returns to early investors by using the money deposited by new investors). When the payment date occurs, the financier is nowhere to be found. One of his staff members, Giacomo Pellegrino, is also gone. But the dedicated middle-aged teller, Mariastella Cosentino, still mans the office . . . despite threats from angered depositors. Another assistant, the attractive Michela Manganaro, is licking her wounds after not having been paid for two months. But she can dish the dirt, and Montalbano gets some helpful clues.
On the serious side, headquarters has learned about the adoption Montalbano had arranged after another case, and Montalbano has to cover his tracks. As he does, he finds some good and not-so-good news. In addition, Mimi is getting close to marriage . . . but cold feet are also setting in. Will his nerve hold?
Will Montalbano's relationship with Livia survive some prevarications on the part of each?
If you are a devoted fan of the series, be sure to read the book. It contains some nice character development. But don't expect much of a mystery. After all, how hard can it be to solve a Ponzi scheme case with a missing financier? There has to be a money trail . . . and that can be turned into a physical trail.
Enjoy a pleasant taste if Sicily!
The Charm of Inspector Montalbano.......2007-08-03
I enjoy the t.v. series made in Italy and available here in Code 4 DVD, so much that I must have my Montalbano fix often. I read the novels that are so popular here and in Italy, and listen to the audio CD's like this one, Smell of the Night, which should have been titled: Scent of the Night because Vigata is on the sea and the fragrances of sea, salt, olive blossoms and basil, can become intoxicating. This episode is great because someone has dared to cut down an ancient olive tree where Salvo Montalbano goes to brood and to receive comfort, this make our volatile Chief Inspector very "pazzo!". Plus, Salvo has such an acute brain,he knows to get into his old wet suit, and go diving in dark waters to solve the puzzle; then gloats that he is still in good shape until he bends down to pick up something afterwards, and ouch! His constant battle with evading marriage with the patient and beautiful Milano resident, Livia, is always delightful and Salvo's love for Sicilian food makes me long to go there and try some of those dishes that are described so well. the other regulars are wonderful including the long-suffering Livai, Fazio, the loyal right hand man, Mimi, the skirt chaser, and Catarella, who has to the 4th of the 3 Stooges. The women are wonderful and either hags or voluptuous beauties. Italian drama always has comedy, and Sicilian is Italian cubed. For example, a sign of affection can be a smack on the back of the head. As for this CD Audio, if you can get past the stentorian voice of the narrator, which I did after fussing for awhile, you'll find that the character, Salvo Montalbano, will leave you wanting to walk beside him again and again. The novels are all available in English, the DVD's come with English titles, but alas there are only two other novels by Andrea Camilleri's Inspector Salvo Montalbano available on audio CD's. The Shape of Water, and The Terra Cotta Dog.
Entertaining but not substantial.......2007-04-04
This was a fun read but almost gauze thin. There's something to be said for that. At least there's no pretentiouness like Mankell. But one of Montalbano's assistant's dialog could have been delivered by Chico Marx.
Bill Ott and his wine...........2007-03-28
"...the series is richer than ever, less smooth but with more bite, less Sangiovese and more Barolo. Bill Ott" So writes Mr. Ott. But if he is sequencing in parallel, he needs to reverse his wines: It is barolo which is smooth and sangiovese which has the bite, sometimes a mean bite. He should drink more. Oh, by the way, I have ordered this book, but haven't read this one yet, all the others but not yet this one. Forced to rate what I have not yet read, I gave it five stars based on past performance; I don't think Camilleri can write a bad book; the first five without exception have been fun to read. While drinking half a bottle of sangiovese of an evening, or barolo if you can afford it.
The Sixth Inspector Montalbano Mystery by Andrea Camilleri - L'odore Della Notte - The Smell of the Night........2007-03-13
It was all happening at the general management's office down town in Vigàta, `King Midas Associates'. Mariastella Cosentino was sitting behind the cashier's window as usual, three policeman Mimi Augello, Fazio and Galluzzo were performing a kind of ballet depending on which way the pistol was pointing at them, Inspector Montalbano kept his eye on the assailant who was making everybody nervous. The old man himself was in his eighties had advance Parkinson's, the pistol was shaking so badly in his hands someone was bound to end up shot, he was clearly destressed all this guy wanted was his money.
Emanuele Gargano belonged to the short-lived breed of businessman fast climber and ready for the scrap heap age fifty. This man was a Financial miracle worker and had given Vigàta the economic reawakening it needed, he had set up offices and with his charismatic charm enticed people to invest their life savings and pensions, for a couple of years now his firm had shown a high profit turn over, word spread and more invested, for the people of this town it was about making money as quickly as possible, then as fast as Emanuele Gargano had breezed into town he had suddenly disappeared and all the people's Vigàta savings with him.
Montalbano had promised the old man he would get his money back and that's not all he would search everywhere for this Emanuele Gargano and bring him to justice but as complications begin to increase so does Montalbano's personal and professional king size headache.
Andrea Camilleri has written a wonderful Montalbano mystery series, what I love about this series would be the characterisations and language, the usage of dialogue in conversation it's all been kept real it's got Sharp wit and ironic comedy, the sly comments on Italian life and culture keeps things interesting and amusing. Montalbano is a fantastic leading character his middle aged, melancholy vein, recites certain favourite authors lines in moments of doubt, clearly well read. His ability of untangling his cases with certain logic and gets to the truth by not feeling afraid to explore all areas even into obsession and his wonderful passion for great flavoured food is just endless.
This Sixth novel is fantastic like all the others, I love all the characters just picking a couple out, Mimi Augello is great at being second in command, very ambitious with a real comical side as a dedicated womaniser, especially since his trying to pass himself off to Montalbano as excellent marriage material, Montalbano never believing this but remains the good boss sits silently and listens while Mimi relays his justifications. Another character who brings a smile to my face is Catarella (Cat) in charge of telephone calls his got wonderful dialogue it has me in stitches, he really tries so hard, Montalbano knows his got an angel on his team.
All Montalbano mysteries start in comedy but end in horror and melodrama but it done with lots of human interest in every plot, it's highly recommended from me and the whole series deserves to be read from the beginning.
A special mention to poet Stephen Sartarelli who has translated each book smoothly and clearly, managing to keep its humour through out and for the very informative notes given at the back on wording. Thank You.
Additional Notes: UK addition under the title, The Scent of the Night.
A.Bowhill
Amazon.com
In his fiction, at least, Frederick Busch is no stranger to the Victorian era: his 1978 novel The Mutual Friend was a meticulous reconstruction of the Dickensian universe, right down to the last wisp of pea-soup fog. In The Night Inspector, he ventures an equally deep immersion in the past. This time, however, Busch takes us to post-Civil-War Manhattan, where a disfigured veteran named William Bartholomew rages against the Gilded Age--even as he demands remuneration for his own losses.
And what exactly has the narrator lost? As we learn in a sequence of flashbacks, Bartholomew served as a Union sniper, picking off stray Confederate soldiers in an extended bout of psychological warfare. Eventually, though, he received a taste of his own medicine, when a enemy bullet destroyed most of his face. Outfitted with an eerie papier-mâché mask, Bartholomew tends to shock postwar observers into silence:
I imagine I understand their reaction: the bright white mask, its profound deadness, the living eyes beneath--within--the holes, the sketched brows and gashed mouth, airholes embellished, a painting of a nose.... Nevertheless. I won this on your behalf, I am tempted to cry, or pretend to. The specie of the nation, the coin of the realm, our dyspeptic economy, the glister and gauge of American gold: I was hired to wear it!
Bartholomew has, it should be obvious, a formidable mastery of rhetoric. It's appropriate, then, that he should hook up with that supreme exponent of the American baroque, Herman Melville--who at this point is a burnt-out customs inspector (and candidate for some Victorian 12-step plan). Together these outcasts embark upon a plan to rescue a group of black children from their Florida servitude. This caper--along with Bartholomew's attachment to a gold-hearted, elaborately tattooed prostitute--allows the novel to veer in the direction of the penny dreadful. Yet Busch's mastery of period detail, and of the very shape of century-old syntax, remains extraordinary on every page. And true to its title, The Night Inspector is a superb investigation of darkness--in both the physical and psychological sense. "I was reckless," the narrator insists, "and born with great vision though not, alas, of the interior, spiritual sort." By the end of the novel, most readers will decide that he's undersold himself. --Bob Brandeis
Book Description
An immensely powerful story, The Night Inspector follows the extraordinary life of William Bartholomew, a maimed veteran of the Civil War, as he returns from the battlefields to New York City, bent on reversing his fortunes. It is there he meets Jessie, a Creole prostitute who engages him in a venture that has its origins in the complexities and despair of the conflict he has left behind. He also befriends a deputy inspector of customs named Herman Melville who, largely forgotten as a writer, is condemned to live in the wake of his vanished literary success and in the turmoil of his fractured family.
Delving into the depths of this country's heart and soul, Frederick Busch's stunning novel is a gripping portrait of a nation trying to heal from the ravages of war--and of one man's attempt to recapture a taste for life through the surging currents of his own emotions, ambitions, and shattered conscience.
Download Description
"The Night Inspector" follows the extraordinary life of William Bartholomew, a maimed veteran of the Civil War, as he returns from the battlefields to New York City, bent on reversing his fortunes. It is there he meets Jessie, a Creole prostitute who engages him in an adventure that has its origins in the complexities and despair of the conflict he has left behind. Bartholomew befriends someone who can help him -- a deputy inspector of customs named Herman Melville, who, largely forgotten as a writer, is condemned to live in the wake of his vanished literary success and in the turmoil of his fractured family.
Frederick Busch's stunning novel is a gripping portrait of a nation trying to heal from the ravages of war -- and of one man's attempt to recapture a taste for life.
Customer Reviews:
Affection & Intimacy Transcend Life's Harsh Realities.......2006-02-21
Busch's manuscript in this book is perhaps his finest piece of work. The story is all about murder, slave trade, insensitivity, selfishness and greed. The manner in which these things are told, conveyed, if you will, with a tenderness and affection that is unexpected and charmingly loving, is truly entrancing to the reader.
Busch's protagonist has suffered more than most Civil War veterans. He was a special sniper. He was a very good sniper in a special unit. He was on a mission when he was hit in the face with a bullet. His face was destroyed; he would wear a mask for the rest of his life.
Slowly Busch talks of love and death. He discusses his characters feelings about them. He also brings in a most unexpected character; one almost all Amercans know. Mr. Herman Melville, Asst. Deputy, Customs Inspector. It was his job to stop smuggling and to help people in need.
Melville was an Asst. Deputy Customs Inspector in NYC in real life. He had spent most of his working career doing just that. This condition was such, because all his novels, except "Moby Dick" were commercial failures. In this case, Busch chooses to use "The Confidence Man: His Masquerade" as a metaphor. In that book, Meville seems to be saying, `We all are seeking confidence, either we are seeking self-confidence; the confidence of others; or we are preying on other people's confidence.'
The book is very much about good versus evil and life and death. But they are dealt with in a well conceived framework created through incredibly deep sensitivity. This is a must read book.
A bit hard to follow. . ........2004-10-04
Overall I enjoyed this book, but the author's tendency to move forward and backward in flashback and non- was a bit hard to follow.
Insightful, brilliant work.......2003-10-23
It has been over a month since I finished Night Inspector, yet it continues to resonate with me, and I think about the main character, Billy, often. Busch provides great insight into Billy's experiences and life, and his will to continue on, as so many wounded men have. The book jacket describes Billy as limitlessly cruel, but I think that is an unfair description. I would describe Billy as limitlessly complex, facing the cruel circumenstances of war it's aftermath. Many men have lived with horrible physical loss. Some survive, some barely live. The plot was not nearly as important to me as the meditation on character. The Victorian language was fascinating, but the viewpoint inside his mind was completely modern. This is not an easy book, but a very rewarding and well imagined book.
Exquisite..........2003-03-29
Billy Bartholomew served as a sniper in the Union Army during the Civil War. He survived a minnie ball to the face, but after the war, has trouble dealing with his disfigurement and the memories of his work as a sniper. He tries to isolate himself in a slum neighborhood in Manhattan but his humanity gets the best of him. He helps his poor neighbors. He befriends an alcoholic Herman Melville whose writing has been ignored. He plots to rescue a group of children from slave dealers. He even falls in love. Busch's writing is exquisite. His complex characters have a mystery about them that is enticing. He presents a fascinating picture of New York and America embarking on a new era. A great work of fiction!!
AT LAST, FINALLY A GENIUS.......2002-05-16
I am in total awe of this book, and that's a lot coming from a skeptical person like me. I was totally blown away by the grace and artistry of Frederick Busch. I am now going about getting all of his other work.
The Night Inspector is a historical novel in the sense that it is set in 1868 New York. It is above and beyond history in that it portrays psychic wounds more common to our century. Its main character, William Bartholomew, is an ex-sniper for the Union army whose face was destroyed in battle. He wears a pasteboard mask similar to that worn by Tom Cruise in the movie Vanilla Sky. It makes it more disturbing that facial features are painted on its surface, thereby accentuating their very absence. He is a man shattered by war who is desperately trying to rebuild his life by becoming successful in business.
He becomes buddies with Hermann Melville, yes, the once famous author of Moby Dick, who now spends his life as a customs inspector. The scenes with him are very poignant because its painful to see one of our great writers relegated to being a beaten down bureaucrat. You can sense that Melville just wants to leave his family, that he wants to destroy the fake simulation of life that he exists in...
The beauty of the book lies not in its plot but in the beauty of its emotion. I could really see in my mind everything as it happened. That doesn't happen to me very often. The book also takes up the issue of civil rights and the horrors that were committed against blacks in that age. Some of the degradations in the book will fill you with disgust. Also very effective are the scenes in which Batholomew flashbacks to sniper missions. There is something very disturbing in a man that kills for a living and that can totally dismiss mercy from his mind. They are done in such a way that you feel you are there.
The language is great and the writing is impeccable. I felt like I was in the company of a master. Busch is a good writer. Please check him out.
Book Description
A gruelling night of shrouded motives and confused identities develops when the last of the Dromios is found murdered, with both of his hands burnt off. He was one of triplets, whose brothers had died in a fire forty years previously. Inspector Appleby wrenches the facts from a melodrama in which the final solution is written in fire.
Customer Reviews:
Burnt to a cinder in his own study.......2002-10-14
"...So that night began and continued to the end, in nothing but confusion and errors; whereupon it was ever afterwards called the Night of Errors." (Gesta Grayorum, 1594)
One of the most surreal butlers in all of mystery inhabits "Night of Errors (1948)." His name is Swindle and his conversation consists mainly of the croaked "Urrr" sound and displeasing snuffles through his nose. Most of the really amusing episodes in the book consist of Swindle's monosyllabic interactions with the long-suffering family whom he serves. Naturally, he is one of the suspects in this classical British manor house mystery.
Sir Oliver Dromio is found burnt to a crisp in his own fireplace, but this wasn't the first suspicious fire on the Dromio estate. Forty years earlier, Sir Oliver's infant brothers (he was one of a set of triplets) were supposedly burned to death in a suspect blaze in the nursery.
Sir John Appleby, recently retired from his august position at New Scotland Yard, has had his fill of burnt baronets. But he lets the local constable talk him into a midnight drive in his big yellow Bentley over to the neighboring estate of Sherris, home of the Dromio family since the seventeenth century.
There are a multitude of suspects in addition to the Neanderthal butler: Lady Dromio, whose two infant sons had died so horribly four decades past, and whose baronet husband had died mad; Lucy, her adopted daughter who might have been Sir Oliver's mistress; the Reverend Mr. Greengrave who sometimes drank a glass of wine too many, in order to overcome his shyness; Sebastian Dromio, the black sheep of the family, who was supposed to be in America; the rich, reclusive Mrs. Gollifer, who might be Lucy's natural mother; and her son, Geoffrey who is in love with Lucy.
Appleby and his sidekick, Inspector Hyland set out to solve the homicide in a night of errors compounded by several arsons, multiple corpses, mistaken identities, all sorts of motives (from blackmail to hereditary madness), and an over-full cast of suspects.
Including one very odd butler.
Product Description
multiple books ship as one item. save on shipping/handling charges.
Customer Reviews:
The Perfect Murder in Toronto........2006-12-09
Charlie S. felt like a failure: "as soon as anything gets hard, you want to drop it," "you never finish anything," he heard as he grew up and things just were not in the stars for C.S. He was a failure at school, at his aborted university classes where he was bored stiff, his first marriage and now his job. He works as a police inspector for five years now after a detective he knew encouraged him to try this vocation. He needed another fifteen to retire, but now his job was in jepardy as he had made a lot of enemies as he progressed through the ranks.
His second marriage to Annie, from the prominent Montagueses of Prince Edward Island. He called her the Island princess, and she had been treated as such for most of her life. Brothers were lawyers, and Dad had been a doctor and a real estate developer. Now married to C. Salter, they always vacationed in the family guest cottage on the island. Now, his usual failure here: he felt like the lone Christian in-law in a family of Jews. CS from Anglo-Saxon ghetto in North Toronto which is now in the heart of the city due to expansion. Like son Jeff who spends every August and Christmas at his spouse's family's summer cottage.
Inspector Salter is sent to Douglas College in Toronto to investigate (ask questions of the students) the life and death of Professor David Summers. He'd been at a conference and found dead of a fractured skull in the hotel room where the conference took place (similar to Meriweather Lewis some hundred years ago on the Natchez Trace). He'd spent a good night, it seems, out with some colleagues. With Lewis, he was gambling and was killed by a sore loser.
When the killers are arraigned for Professor Summers murder and later electrocuted, God looked down and smiled, just as He will when my ordeal of near-death by strangling paid for by an ex-con is vindicated. This time he'll meet his demise. He'd already killed one woman and lived to brag about it. He's not just an accessory as he paid J.R. to do the deed this time, and he will get his just reewards in the netherworld from which he sprang. Charlie goes on to become head of Special Affairs for several more investigations before he turns in his badge. Not such a loser this time around. It's time for things to change for the better, and God will smile again for me soon.
The Night the Gods Smiled.......2002-04-21
Eric Wright is the author of the Charlie Salter mysteries set in Toronto. This past year he wrote "The Last Hand" which is to be the last in the Charlie Salter series, so I decided to go back and read any novels in the series that I had missed. "The Night the Gods Smiled" is the first Charlie Salter mystery. David Summers, a professor at Douglas College in Toronto, is murdered in Montreal during an academic conference. When the Montreal police ask for help, Salter is called in on the case. He finds that Summers had attended the conference with many of his colleagues, one of whom disliked Summers very much. Salter must wade through a lot of suspects before he identifies the killer. This is a very good debut novel for this excellent police procedural series from Canada.
Customer Reviews:
Captivated.......2007-05-07
Not one of the stories had a great plot and the all lacked even a little bit of a relationship beyond the sexual exploits.
Only one readable story but that's a splendid one!.......2006-11-25
Most of the stories in this book are a total waste, trying to use S&M (which I usually have no objection to unless it's gratuitous and emotionless as presented here) instead of good writing and logical plots to carry the story.
"Ecstasy" is just plain silly with a smirking "hero" who fakes submission in an implausible, female-dominated society. "Bound and Determined" had too many nasty moments where the two protagonists snipped and snarled at each other; I got tired of them both. "Dark Desires" had a few steamy moments but neither character was believable or likable.
However, the last one "A Lady's Pleasure" by Robin Schone was worth the price of admission - glorious, erotic sex with passionate characters you really care about and wish well. This one rates 5 stars, the others are just goofy trash.
Buy this book used or borrow it. It's mostly going to be a waste of your time, your money and your patience.
*OH YEAH*.......2006-07-22
I LOVED IT! Erotic to the core! Great writers all! Highly recommend it if you are a Susan Johnson or Bertrice Small fan!!! If you are not you will be now!
Depends on what you want it for.......2006-07-02
You may rate this item higher...it just depends on what you're looking for in a "romance." This one is dark indeed, a sort of "how-to" for the S&M crowd. Therefore the stories are completely ridiculous, the characters implausible, the attraction between the characters inexplicable, and the setting as realistic as a child's painting. BUT, if you're just into it for the sex, there's plenty of it here, and all the rest of it you're just going to skim over anyway. In which case, you may rate this a bit higher than I have. I KNOW Bertrice Small can do better, though I don't think this is any better or worse than anything else Robin Schone has done and I don't know the other authors. My advice is: keep looking.
This book was lucky to have Robin Schone!.......2006-02-09
Wow! I expected so much more of these great writers, however . . . .
I stopped reading Beatrice Small's offering after about 15 pages. It was completely absurd.
Susan Johnson, who I normally LOVE, seemed to phone her story in. Predictable and lacking depth (but what else shoud I expect from erotic romance?)
While Thea Devine's tale was very erotic, by the end of the story I wanted to kill the "hero". He was such a jerk and insisted on sexually humiliating his wife.
The only story worth reading was Robin Schone's, and I know I can usually count on her. Not only was the story VERY erotic, but the love was sweet, and most importantly: plausible. This book was lucky to have Robin Schone.
Don't waste your money, check it out from the library.
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Excursion to Tindari: An Inspector Montalbano Mystery
Rounding the Mark
Voice of the Violin (Inspector Montalbano Mysteries)
The Terra-Cotta Dog: An Inspector Montalbano Mystery
The Patience of the Spider (Inspector Montalbano Mysteries)
