The Shape of Water - Andrea Camilleri, translated by Stephen Sartarelli
In Sicily, nothing is ever what it seems. The first Inspector Montalbano novel opens with the death of Silvio Luparello, a local power broker whose body is found half-naked in a BMW parked near a notorious stretch of land known as The Pasture - a place crawling with dealers, addicts, and prostitutes. The autopsy says natural causes. The big shots -politicians, businessmen, churchmen - breathe a sigh of relief. They want the body buried, the scandal buried deeper, and life to go on.
But Montalbano isn’t one of their men. He’s a cop, yes, but not the kind who plays by the rules. He asks for time to investigate, and what he finds is a web of lies spun by men who wear suits and speak in pious tones. Luparello’s death isn’t just a personal tragedy - it’s a political maneuver. Someone wants to tarnish his legacy, destroy his faction, and tighten their grip on power.
Montalbano moves through this world like a lone wolf - sharp, cynical, and loyal only to justice. He bends the law, protects the innocent, and humiliates the corrupt. He helps a garbage man and a vulnerable woman targeted by the elite. He sees through the hypocrisy, the rot, the quiet violence of a system built to crush the weak.
Camilleri’s Sicily is no postcard. It’s a place of ancient grudges, backroom deals, and family secrets. The novel’s social critique is brutal: incest, exploitation, and political decay are not new - they’re traditions. Even the garbage collectors are college-educated, their talents wasted by a society that rewards the worst and punishes the best.
The mystery itself is secondary. What matters is the atmosphere, the characters, the moral weight. Camilleri, writing at 69, launched a series that would span decades. The Shape of Water is the beginning of a saga about a man who fights the system - not with guns, but with guts, wit, and a refusal to look away.
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