The Dance of the Seagull by Andrea Camilleri was first published in 2013 and it’s another one which I have seen on TV but that didn’t detract from my enjoyment of it.
The setting is of course Sicily. Salvo Montalbano’s long-suffering girlfriend Livia is expecting to be going on holiday with him but he makes a last minute trip to the police station where he discovers that his colleague Fazio is missing. All thoughts of Livia go straight out of his mind as he begins a frantic search for Fazio.
Watching the TV programme I had always been a bit puzzled by the Montalbano/Livia relationship and this book makes it clear that it’s a romance of long-standing which has just run out of steam. He just isn’t into her that much now – as the modern term goes.
There’s plenty of comedy and I was particularly amused when early on in the book Livia tells Montalbano that he might want to avoid a particular part of the town where they are filming Montalbano, unless he wants to bump into the actor who is playing him. Montalbano complains that the actor is far too young and bald to be him, and he is because it seems that he is actually 57 years old – in the book anyway.
This is another good read, I just wonder if all of the books have been dramatised?
I wish I could see the TV versions. Do you like them as much as the books? I had requested the series on Netflix, but I recently got a message that they wouldn’t be available after all.
I’ve read the first twelve in the series, but haven’t got to this one yet. I think Livia is a pain and would like to see Montalbano dump her.
Joan,
It seems like Montalbano isn’t brave enough to dump Livia, he hopes she will do the dumping!
What a shame you can’t see them on Netflix, they are a good blend of crime/murder and comedy, I think I like them even more than the books, and that doesn’t happen often.