Another satisfying entry in the Inspector Montalbano series. This one had very little Livia in it and none of his housekeeper -- perhaps these domestic aspects would have interfered with the mild flirtation or attraction that Montalbano has with the two main (female) suspects/witnesses in this case! One domestic detail remained true -- his love affair with his food :)

As usual, Stephen Sartarelli's translation included interesting notes but in this Kindle edition, they didn't appear as footnotes in the text (i.e. there were no markers in the text to let the reader know that there was a note attached to a particular word or segment). This is the first of these books I have read in Kindle form so I don't know if that change is due to the format or to this book in particular. Whichever it is, I found it a shame (though I read all the notes anyway!).

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Inspector Montalbano accompanies a concerned sister to her brother's apartment where he finds the man was shot in the face. Some aspects of the way the body was found indicate he might have been engaging in sex, but the coroner's report shows that was not the case. Most of his team members have been investigating cases involving drug deaths of somewhat important persons. Montalbano investigates persons connected to the man and must not let his judgment be clouded by his attraction to some of the females.It's not my favorite in the series, but it is solid. ( )

Tal vez porque Salvo Montalbano siente más que nunca la onerosa carga del tiempo sobre sus hombros, el lector asiduo del comisario siciliano lo encontrará más maduro y reflexivo que nunca, aunque no por ello menos dispuesto a desenmascarar la impostura y las trampas con que intentan confundirlo, y, naturalmente, sin renunciar un ápice a su acostumbrada alergia a los mandos superiores y al juez de turno. El nuevo caso de Montalbano, uno de los más turbios a los que se ha enfrentado, arranca con la desaparición de Angelo Pardo, un solitario y enigmático representante de productos farmacéuticos. El posterior hallazgo de su cadáver en circunstancias no precisamente decorosas plantea una cadena de interrogantes sobre el móvil del crimen, por lo que Montalbano centra su atención en las mujeres más cercanas a Angelo: su hermana Michela, una solterona que bajo sus ropas anchas esconde una voluptuosidad que turba a nuestro comisario; y su amante Elena, la joven y bellísima esposa de un viejo profesor. Sus historias se contradicen y Montalbano, que sospecha que ambas ocultan algo, se esfuerza en sacar agua clara de todo ello. Puesta a prueba por enésima vez su fidelidad a Livia, en esta novena entrega Salvo Montalbano se acerca como nunca a la psicología femenina, al tiempo que se rebela contra las primeras manifestaciones del paso del tiempo.

A beautiful woman reports her brother missing, who is found murdered with his junk hanging out. Inspector Montalbano has to find out if the murder was love or business-related, and his usual dogged determination makes him dig deeper and deeper to find the surprising truth. ( )

Continuing series. This one is particularly good with good plotting and some great lines. Inspector Montilbano's sense of humour is particularly drool. Exhibit A: "...politics is the art of burying one's adversary in shit." Montilbano's aging and those comments are insightful. ( )