title: Montalbano's First Case and Other Stories (An Inspector Montalbano Mystery)
author:  Andrea Camilleri 
description: For this sparkling collection, bestseller Camilleri (A Beam of Light) selected 21 of his 59 published stories featuring Chief Insp. Salvo Montalbano of Sicily's Vigta police. The title tale, one of the longest and most satisfying, is the only one to have previously appeared in English translation. In 1985, Montalbano is transferred to Vigta, where he deals first with a sensitive case involving Giuseppe Cusumano, the favorite grandson of Don Sisino Cuffaro, the head of a powerful Mafia family. The story showcases Montalbano's love of good food, his perfect little house, his curiosity and sympathy, and his unconventional but shrewd problem solving. Some of the best stories are quite brief and moving, such as "The Pact," in which Montalbano stops to help an old woman walking alone at night, and the metafictional "Montalbano Says No," in which the detective has a dispute with his creator. Familiar supporting characters get a chance to shine, most notably and improbably in "Catarella Solves a Case," in which "Cat" Catarella, his assistant (with a gift for butchering language), takes a lead role. This is a treat for admirers of the Montalbano novels and a superb introduction for new readers. Agent: Donatella Barbieri, Agenzia Letteraria Internazionale (Italy). (Feb.)\n
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  Praise for Andrea Camilleri and the Montalbano Series
  
  
  “Camilleri’s Inspector Montalbano mysteries might sell like hotcakes in
  Europe, but these world-weary crime stories were unknown here until the
  oversight was corrected (in Stephen Sartarelli’s salty translation) by the
  welcome publication of _The Shape of Water_. . . . This savagely funny police
  procedural . . . prove[s] that sardonic laughter is a sound that translates
  ever so smoothly into English.”
  
  
  — _The New York Times Book Review_
  
  
  “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 