More Montalbano please

I love Andrea Camilleri's classy Sicilian set Inspector Montalbano mysteries. I haven't read the series in order, and The wings of the sphinx is a bit of a leap forward in time from my last Montalbano read, The scent of the night, but in spite of that it's easy to catch up on the action.

In Wings of the sphinx a dead girl is found with her face smashed in, in a Sicilian quarry. The only clue to the girl's identity is a tattoo of a rare Sphinx moth. Montalbano is soon on the case and on the trail of an organization which appears to be set up to help impoverished recent immigrants to Italy, but Montalbano soon begins to suspect that the organization is more keen to help themselves, than the girls that they are allegedly trying to save. Meanwhile as the detective's relationship with his beloved Livia falls apart, he is in a race both to save the relationship and to prevent the deaths of any more girls.

In many ways, in spite of the dark matter, this is one of the funniest of Camilleri's books. It's an enjoyable read with a strong central crime story. It's fairly obvious from early on where the narrative is going, this isn't going to be a novel that keeps you guessing to the end, but it's great fun. Not the best Camilleri, but well worth a quick read.