TV series nine Miss Angellica and Hall of Mirrors

The first of four new episodes series nine to British TV was broadcast last Saturday week with a new Livia someone taller than the original who disappeared after a number of series so that we heard only her voice. I do not think the new actress was a great success and interestingly only her voice is heard again in the episode Saturday past although the story had another woman who Salvo became interested as it central character. I am ahead of myself. In the first episode Salvo hears Livia Calling out the name Carlo in a waking dream and with words which have a distinctive sexual context. He then keeps bumping into men called Carlo including a waiter a at restaurant and where he requests a change. As will be expected in relation to Livia there is an innocent explanation for the name, .her dress designer with a feature at the rear of her dress she does not want. A contrived amusement..

In the main story of Miss Angelica there is a robbery involving a couple of swingers celebrating the 5^th wedding anniversary at a sea coast home where they are gassed to sleep with their cars then taken and their apartment in town broken into and everything stolen of great value. An anonymous letter is sent announcing a second, third and fourth robberies as the episode progresses. The second concerns Miss Angelica which has the same pattern as before except that the young woman pleads with Salvo not to disclose where she was staying which he agrees only for another anonymous letter to be sent to the local chief complaining that only half the story had been disclosed by the Inspector in his report. However he is able to talk his way out of the situation saying that he did say the car had been stolen and the property in her town residence but nothing had been taken from where she had been staying.

I cannot remember the order of the next two incidents but in one the stake out at another of the friends of the first two victims is foiled, friends who all know each other and have the knowledge of movements and locations, one of the three robbers is wounded in the shoot out as they escape but later is found dead his wound infected and the man then shot from fear if he went for treatment he would reveal his partners.

In the next situation Salvo is joined by Miss Angelica on a surveillance and nothing happens and by then the two have become lovers despite the difference in ages, not the first time this has happened.

Then in the third completed robbery this of someone in the same block as the first couple, a man who is not one of the friends but later transpires to have been a loan shark over a long period as well as jeweller. He is then found to have committed suicide. Salvo plays his hunches and discovers first that Miss Angelica is the sister of a man he has met when seeking where in the block the first couple are resident, after one of Catarella’s great name mix-ups. He has discovered video games quickly becoming an addict on the works computer. Salvo backs a hunch and Catarella searches the on line local paper archives with an article on the death of their parents either accident or suicide in a car following the father getting into great difficulties from a loan shark. They had set out on revenge and hired the robbers who had mafia connection with the first robberies a blind and with the taken goods stored safely for returning when the main task was completed which was to gain access to the record kept by the loan shark of a his customers who acquired huge debts. Angelica is shot before Salvo can protect her after a tip off because of her decision to attend the stake out with him knowing that this was a set up for him to be killed and which she had prevented.. It all therefore ends well in that the robberies are solved, the other robbers identified and presumed brought to just, but also Angelica and her brother would be prosecuted for their part in the situation that developed.. However I cannot remember all the ins and out so that connections and explanations have been missed which make the episode an integrated whole.

Livia has visited to attend the 20^th birthday of Françoise, from the Snack Thief adopted by Mimi Augello’s sister and who they had planned to adopt and where they would have married with Livia moving to Sicily has this happened and where Françoise had said he wanted to be a policeman when he grew and was growing restless at University

I found the second episode of the ninth series Hall of Mirrors. more powerful because of the ending, Salvo is setting off for work or at least from his home and he encounters a neighbour having difficulties with her car and after admitting that he knows little about under the bonnet he offers to take her to garage to arrange for the car to checked and later discovered that the engine has been deliberately tampered with and requires significant repairs..

The woman works at a store and he transports her in the mornings until the vehicle is fixed, She is an attractive woman who appears very interested in him. She has a husband who works as the representative of a computer firm and is away from home although the couple have only moved from the mainland to Vigata a couple of months before,. At one level the episode could be said to centre on three meals they have together. The first at his favourite Enzio’s Trattoria where she appears to have same approach to not talking while eating and to have same food interests although later she admits to have made enquiries about him beforehand. Seasoned watchers appreciate that she is just too interested in him too soon and that it takes time for him to begin to question the sincerity of this attention.

She wants to reciprocate hospitality with a meal at home but instead accepts the wish to attend a family meal at the home of the housekeeper who is preparing her special sauce recipe of Arancini, afood which we see her prepare in the very first episode when he meets her in Young Montalbano and she is preparing the food to sell at a local deli.

(Arancini or arancine are fried rice balls coated with breadcrumbs, said to have originated in Sicily in the 10th century. Arancini are usually filled with ragù (meat sauce), tomato sauce, mozzarella, and/or peas. There are a number of local variants that differ in fillings and shape. The name derives from the food's shape and color, which is reminiscent of an orange (the Italian word for orange is arancia, and arancina means "little orange").The main type of arancino sold in Sicilian cafes are arancini con ragù, which typically consist of meat in a tomato sauce, rice, and mozzarella. Many cafes also offer arancini con burro (béchamel sauce), or specialty arancini, such as arancini con funghi (mushrooms), con pistacchi (pistachios), or con melanzane (aubergine (eggplant)).The arancini are considered a typical dish of the city of Messina, where they usually have a conic form.).

I will come to the third meal at home after explaining the that the main story commences with the setting off of two small bombs outside small warehouses in residential areas. In the first instance there are two known criminals who appear possible suspects as they live in the adjacent residential dwelling but as with many stories there appears nothing to connect the two incidents together or with the obvious candidates.

The story that emerges and which connects with the neighbour and her broken down car emerges as follows. The woman is in fact not married and Salvo learns that man she says is her husband was fired three months previously and just before she comes to settle in the house close where the Inspector lives. He is in fact running drugs which are hidden in at least one of the computers which he finds after breaking into the home of his neighbour after he becomes suspicious about her, after the discovered set up on the night of his meal with her.

Even before this he had discovered that the woman worked at the same store as the son of a local Mafioso where his mother accuses the woman of being whore and she is supposed to be married. After the meal the housekeepers and the car jolting over a rock she expresses tiredness and does not invite him in, He is suspicious and goes back to the house and see her with the mad from the store and later when a colleague is asked to check out the store/ he checks out the store the couple are observed in a changing room. When a bullet hole is found in the side of car his suspicions are further aroused when it is confirmed that the bullet came from a high velocity riffle, and intended shot and not from the spray of gun fire which they had encountered on the journey into the town where she worked and the police station is located. The Carabineiri had set up a vehicle road block and which he had attempted to by pass just as a vehicle with armed men approaches spraying the polices and vehicles with gun fire. The news that an attempt had been made to kill the woman confirms that she is not being open and honest with the Inspector.

Just before he accepts the invitation to dine at her home he learns from his journalist Free TV newsman that he is being set up so when he arrives and she insists on dining out with a large standing lamp replacing the outside lights which she needs a bulb replacement. We see theme at the first course with Salvo insisting they move inside because of the threat of mosquitoes where she tried to seduce him but he leaves to join his colleagues who have arrested the journalists cameramen outside from a rival TV station and regular critic of the Inspector at every opportunity.

The more they investigate the case, especially the bombing appear to be related to a feud between rival mafia families seeking control of the drug trade. It is as this point that the links begin to emerge after the woman and her lover suddenly disappear and hen the lover is found in a burnt out car in the middle of no where and a local resident explained that several days before he had seen two vehicles parked at the spot of the now burnt out car. He had noted the numbers not the letters which h had used for the national lottery something which did on a regular basis and later he is able to confirm the number and letters of the second car belonging to one of the mafia bosses and is prepared to give evidence despite doing so. He uses his media friend to set a trap at the home of the neighbour after finding drugs in one of the computers and that the so called husband had not worked for the company since arriving in Sicily have been sacked. The neighbour was found murdered at the same time of the fire.

In this final scene the fake husband is apprehended coming for the drugs but saves the life of Salvo as the rivals also arrive for the consignment and then offers to give testimony because of the murder of his woman friend, and with Salvo promising to speak up for the man , out of respect for the dead woman who he learns was genuinely interested in him as a way out of the situation she had been forced into in addition to life saving

Once again Salvo had found a woman close to home only for the relationship to be dashed almost before it had commenced.

　

　

　

　

　

The wings of the Sphinx, the book by Andfea Camilleri

The wings of the Sphinx by Andrea Camilleri is the 11^th of the first 12 published books that I have purchased and recently completed. I have also seen a TV production of the book.

The book opens with Montalbano experiencing that point in life when one is not as enthusiastic as before about the work and his relationship with Livia suggests breaking point as neither continues to be able to meet their needs as and when required. He has also reached the stage in life where he wrestles with his self about how to deal with his predicament, represented as two people with whom he debates, sometimes writing a letter from one to the other which is a good idea rather than writing to another party!.

He is called out to the murder of a young woman in her early twenties, found naked near a place names as a bridge although the span of the bridge had been removed for its iron, after being created by the allies during World War II. The local magistrate has a theory about what happened but Salvo later confirmed by the pathologist believe she was shot in the face somewhere to be unrecognisable apart from a tattoo of a particular butterfly on one of her shoulders, stripped cleaned up and then dumped where she is discovered. The Pathologist is also reaching his time of professional life when he tire of cutting open the bodies of the very young to discover how they died. He prefers to spend his time playing poker for money at a local club.

There is a second story of a man reported by his wife as being kidnapped. Salvo and his team are forced to devote time by the Police Chief because the woman has complained about their lack of apparent interest. Their preliminary investigation suggest the event was staged and he is likely to have run off with his secretary or one of his serial conquests with Mimi Augello, his deputy suggesting two resorts. The helpful friend public broadcaster that Salvo had known and used since first coming to Vigata as the chief Inspector publishes a photo and this leads to a businessman calling who provides a photo of the man with a young woman at a club in Havana. He is also in the photo and Salvo agrees to arrange for a friend to change disappearance in the photo. The man travels regularly to Havana where he has not one, not two but three young women with whom he visits all the same day. He runs around in fast cars and has a conventional wife and children who he wishes to protect from his exploits.

Montalbano arranges for the photo of the information provider to be disguised and then gives the photo to the wife who claims it is a double and complains again that Montalbano and his colleagues are not taking the kidnapping seriously. When the man turns up with the story of having been kidnapped and roughed but managed to escape the wife claims vindication and Salvo’s bosses play I told you so. However Salvo is far from convinced and organises a meeting of the employees of the man at which he goes along with the kidnap story and being roughly treated with the implication that one of those in the room was behind the kidnapping. This leads to one of the employees owning up that the was involved in the initial kidnapping as a stunt and looked after his boss for a few days until he was due to fly out with his latest” whore. Salvo is able to vindicate himself and his colleagues.

He also arranges with his TV newsman friend for a photo of the butterfly to be circulated and this reveals that more than one woman has the same Tattoo. In this instance the sister a retired widower has arranged for a young woman to become a live in Home Care Assistant. He had spied on her in the bathroom hence knowing about the Butterfly Tattoo and the young woman had resisted his sexual approach stating with him for just under two months. I cannot remember the circumstances of her departure.

The connection between this murder and more than one girl with the tattoo only becomes evident with a chance meeting with Ingrid the young attractive Scandinavian girl he met in one his early cases and who reappears from time to time usually driving an expensive fast car. In this instance h chance encounter is to have a significant bearing on the case. They enjoy the food prepared for him by the house keeper sufficient for both and probably more given his usual tendency to over eat,. They drink a lot of whisky and she presses him about the relationship with Livia about which he remains defensive. He also admits to having become attracted with the young woman half his age, the subject of the previous novel only to find she had used him in order to gain revenge on the person who had killed her twin sister. They share the same bed but it is never clear if this is just for company and comfort or if their relationship, however casual has become more.

The following morning he is uneasy about the confessional of the previous evening but Ingrid knows better and asks about his latest case about which she knows nothing, never watching the local news but immediately comments that she employed a girl for just over a month with Tattoo as now described to her, She had disappeared stealing jewellery worth several hundred thousand Euros and her husband had reported the theft to the Carabineiri who had not contacted him. Fazio continues the search of furniture makers using the substance found under the finger nails of the victim.

Ingrid had explained that the help had been arranged through her husband‘s account and who in turn explained her had taken the young women for the catholic Charity set up to help the “unfortunate“ girls. The widower also contact to report the name of the community from the girl had come and confirm that although he had attempted to seduce the girl with an offer of jewellery after she departed he had given these to a relative and he also swore that she had been a honest young woman who he trusted. Because the girl employed by Ingrid wore contact lens he was still left with missing young women with the same Tattoo as the murdered girl.

Another girl is then identified by the son of the housekeeper Adriana who is back in prison but knows that another criminal had fallen in love with a girl with the same tattoo who Salvo then finds has also disappeared.

When the investigation of furniture restorers fails to progress the mystery solving the mystery is progressed with the investigation of a fire at a paint selling shop which the investigator consider odd because there appeared to be no forced entry and the owner did not have financial problems to justify seeking an insurance fraud. Montalbano works out what happened and his technique in getting the owner to confess is brilliantly played out. He had employed yet a fourth girl with a Tattoo who had broken in after the cash of the week had placed in a drawer making a noise which had attracted his attention and seizing a gun and shot the person.

Under recent Italian law he would have not suffered any action for taking the life in such a situation but he had panicked because it was a woman and his employee and held he woman over the weekend until dumping the body from his car. He had subsequently set fire because he had been unable to find the bits of teeth that he though he been left in the room and which he could not find.

It is after the news of his arrest is reported on local TV that a priest comes forward to day that one of the girls with a Tattoo wishes to communicate about her experience with so called charitable organisation “rescuing” the girls. She reveals that the criminal organisation which persuades the girls to leave Russia for a better life was responsible for the tattoos as form of branding one group from another and they had then forced into prostitution to pay off their debts and therefore the approach on behalf of the charity had appeared to be a welcome way out. However it emerged that the organisation so called volunteers had a deal with the mafia to pay off the organisation for the girls and then put them to work sealing from the employers where they were placed. The girl now has a boyfriend and a new life but she is willing to testify against the those to had used and abused in prevent others from her country enduring the same fate,

Through the previous books the relationship between Montalbano and Livia had become strained with both having difficulty communicating over the phone reduced to pleasantries about how they were and what they were doing. As the story of the book progresses it is agreed that they should meet and eventually Livia arranges to travel assured by Salvo that the case is closed and he is free to be with her, although she remain hesitant and determines that she will come from the airport by bus knowing of old the way work has resulted he standing waiting for hours until he has been able to message news of his delay. In this instance the discovery of a body, a key member of he charity, suggesting the mafia have intervened does detain him from his intention to surprise Livia by arriving at the airport buy he does everything possible to pass the information and inquiry on to others but Livia does not answer her mobile phone and he is unable to contact her getting more and more into state. Deciding that she has returned home and is determined not to talk to him he takes the first flight and lets himself into her home, only to find that she has left her mobile at home and that she has made her way to his home and let herself. The consequence is that they row.

Young Montalbano series ends with Seven Mondays

Last night I faced what I assumed was the last Montalbano, albeit the young version, for some time but at the end of the programme a new series was announced with on checking 4 episodes so it is evident we are catching up with the TV shows in Italy. For this final programme Seven Mondays Livia is planning a holiday which she desperately needs and with booking time off and arranging fro someone t cover her work she presses Salvo who appears just as enthusiastic to be there. She has also arranges for them to go for Sunday lunch with his father and when they visit he is sitting down with all his workers but as soon as the meal is over and the workers plus Livia enjoy some dancing he clashes with his father over the childhood when he visited the father after the death of his mother and found that he had remarried with a new family and believed he was not wanted especially by the potential step mother. He leaves angry and driving dangerously Livia presses him to slow down and eventually he stops and asks her to drive.

Because of the events of Seven Mondays he revisits the cemetery where his mother is buried and returns on the anniversary of her death only to find his father also there and there is the beginnings of a reconciliation between them.

Because of the same events he forced to pull out of he holiday so Livia refuses to spend the time at his home waiting for him and goes of on holiday, Salvo is concerned, jealous of the what she might be up to and finds that she has gone Skiing in the Alps and puts Caterella onto trying to find out where she is by ring every hotel. It is only towards the end of the programme and as it transpires towards the end of the holiday that she is tracked down, packing up to leave with her companion according to the hotel, a name which can apply to men as well as women(significance here with (Andrea Camilleri I suspect). Salvo goes to her home where she has not arrived and waits all day at a nearby cafe and is asleep when she arrives back with her mother who is pleased to meet him and he is persuaded to stay for a few days.

The first story in the episode is stand alone with the murder of a widower with his body discovered by a neighbour a widow who looked after his home and who were companions together since the deaths of their respective partners, but nothing more. She blames the son with a history of arguments with thefather and who had taken to drink. While the woman is comparatively poor and dependent on the work she does for the neighbour and he is wealthy. Everything points to teh son who is arrested and held in custody but by a piece of good fortune for him he has to be released much to the anger of the female neighbour.

A man is arrested after a break in robbery and instead of the usual denials he admits the offence and is pleased when Salvo agrees to his request not to arrest him for a month during which eh time he needs to dispose of the stolen items in order to purchase urgently needed medication of his seriously ill wife. He then reveals that he saw the man accused of the murder of his father in a drunken sleep when he went to commit the theft and was still there when he returned thus providing an alibi. The murder is solved when the Inspector is able to find that the man had changed a Will leaving everything to the neighbour back to his son. She had murdered the man for the betrayal and it is evident that she was no more than a hired help, rejecting the advances he had made to her.

Thus I come to the main storyline of Seven Mondays which in many ways was drawn out, enjoyably though but in other circumstances one would have said with padding .On the first Monday young Fazio deals with an incident in which a fish is shot with a note left but is indecipherable because of rain and blood. Montalbano tells him to say the fish is required a evidence, take it home and eat it. In the second a chicken is shot and the note says something about continuing to contract. The third is a pet dog, the fourth a Goat . The fifth a donkey and the sixth a Circus Elephant all with similar types of notes. They struggle to work out the meaning of the notes and the shooting except that Mimi works out that he is killing a bigger creature each time.

Through the help of his TV newsman friend he consulates a religious hermit in his church home full of books gathering dust and he draws attention to the opening of the Indian text of The Kabala and which describes the creation of the universe akin to the Big Bang, at least that is the interpretation I was able to place.

As a consequence of the visit and the advice given attention turns to an elderly pupil of the religious man and when the Inspector tries to contact he finds from his sons that the man disappeared seven years before while swimming and while this appears to be significant the truth is somewhat different.

Salvo has worked out that the choice of animal owner was governed not by size or previous contact but by the surname initial which taken together appeared to spell out the creation by God occurring, again, but instead of a second coming the thought is some kind of destruction or massacre on the next Monday. As a precaution they assemble all those in the community with last surname initial of 0, the missing letter from the message and this includes the brothers of the missing grandfather who are entertained in the local theatre with a suitable family film although from the clip shown, Mimi’s notion of suitable family film is questionable.

When they undertake a roll call before the film commences one of the brothers is missing and they learn that he has became disturbed since his wife and child died in a road traffic accident. They learn he has been living at the home of his dead father and disappeared grandfather and when they visit they realise he is the person they have been looking for. They go tot the cemetery where they find that in the tunnels beneath these have been mined with the intention to explode on All Souls Day the Saturday with Sunday the day of rest and not to take place on the Monday which speeds everything up accordingly, The idea is that in trying to recreating what God did, the big bang he hopes to be able to bring his wife and daughter back to life for eternity with him.

When this is foiled they also realise that he has made his way to where they have gathered everyone for protection. I always thought this was a daft idea and indicated the way the story would develop. Salvo has to use all his wits to persuade the man from blowing himself up together with everyone else in the theatre.

One other note is that when the mother of the officers at the station dies after a log illness all the team together with the retired Fazio attend the funeral indicate the development of community between offices which can go so badly wrong or for the good depending on the leadership and integrity at the top.

　

　

Young Montalbano episode 5 The Third Secret

And now to my favourite Police detective of all time Salvo Montalbano, the Young Man edition starting with eh episode last Saturday number 5 I believe. Entitled the Third Secret and commences with a famous Puccini Aria which sadly I cannot remember what is it called or what it is from although I know so well, Desperately I die!!!!.

Salvo is having a dream in which he goes with Catarella as his driver on a mission and cater Ella is shot, saying it is a performance with the Opera coming to is climax, but he dies and Salvo wakes up in bed with Livia. He tells Mini of his experience who discounts as does Livia and at one point he tells Catarella who is chuffed that his boss is thinking about him.

There are as usually two stores with the fist someone is shooting up the bans placed outside the Town hall requiring the notices to be removed and without gaining permission to replace them it would have been necessary for the couples to repeat the process. The conclusion is that someone is trying to warn off one of the applicants and staff are assigned to investigate the first three and this includes he young Fazio now taking the position previously held by his father. When the the second group of three are checked attention focuses on one a former immigrants about to marry what proves to be of her client when she was controlled by a pimp who appears to have located her and sent the threats.

A special delivery letter has arrived for Salvo which he does not immediately open and when it does it concerns a worker on a building site who is to die unless there is intervention. The man is already dead an accident but he letter had arrived two days late despite the special delivery positing which is checked and found that it was presented by a young man/boy. The incident had also occurred is another district and is being investigated by the Carabinieri.

When visiting his public broadcasting news media man he is shown a tape of a construction company which appears to being bankrolled by the mafia and where the local politicians is presenting the allegation as wrong an a misunderstandings. This firm is now taking over other firms or as it emerges causing deaths of immigrant workers to get them into trouble with the authorities and adding pressure for a buy in.

Because the case is being instigated he tries to satisfy his curiosity by going to the site at night having unknowingly encountered the head of the local service when angered by a public phone which did not work when he would to explain to Livia why he was not able to go on a promised visit.

He is then visited by the head who had observed him at a distance and who had also received a similar letter but he is against reporting Salvo for his behaviour and later asks for the detectives help because of his limited staffing. Salvo discovers from a meeting with the elder Fazio that the man has a brain tumour with limited time left and would like to solve one big case before his career ends.

Salvo visit the firm behind the building site when the worker died and while the owner is defensive the daughter makes contact and reveals that the father was asked to become involved with the Mafia front company but refused and after that the threats. Investigations about the worker reveals he was reference by the local police and Salvo works out that the man was a policeman working undercover. He devises a scheme with the Marshal of the Carabinieri to raid the site, arrests the watchman and gain the evidence required.

This works well through one man appears to escape although his car remains and the Inspector with Salvo driving because he cannot get a squad car because the fuel allowance has run out, follows the car and the man in a replica of the dream. In this instance the Inspector shoots the villain before he can harm Catarella, However to ensue the credit goes to the Marshal they keep their involvement secret and this is the Third Secret of the episode which he asks Catarella to keep thus increasing the man’s sense of pride and importance at being treated in this way.

When it looks as if they prevented further interference in the attempt to stop the wedding of the first storyline Salvo realise that the pimp who has disappeared could make a last attempt on wedding day and arrives just in time to stop the man disfiguring the face of the bride with acid arresting him and ensuring that the young woman is able to go, albeit late which is anyway the custom in Italy. Meanwhile the relationship with Livia had floundered when he fails to accompany her on the visit and she goes alone and then she is caught by chance helping out Mimi with the interior decorating of his new home which he is buying on a mortgage and has requested time off to sort out. The episode ends with Montalbano and Livia making up on beachside of the famous house overlooking the bay.

The young Montalbano episode Four Mortally Wounded

The fourth episode Mortally Wounded begins with our sharing that Livia and spent the night with Salvo but he does not appear enthusiastic about the relationship continuing as we suspect she would like, qualifying that he would visit her depending on his work commitments. Returning to the police station he sees a commotion over poster advertising a referendum whether the wife of a well known local politician is a lady of easy virtue! Fazio looking well returns to duty although Salvo is reluctant to place him on active duty but the man pleads to be able to work saying he became depressed at home. He has asked Mimi who knows the woman in question from the same gym he attends. There is a call to attend the Mayor at the Town Hall when ere is a riot. This in fact is only the husband of the woman demanding to see the Mayor for the failure to remove the poster quickly. The Mayor and his deputy explain that all three are members of the same party( or were members of the same party) but of different factions over the direction of policy.

The husband believed the two men were behind he campaign for political reasons. They have agreed that the posters should come down but because the tax has not been made but it will take a few days because of limited manpower who are already fully engaged. This could suggest to Salvo and ourselves that the husband is correct in his allegations, but we also know that the first solution is unlikely to be the actual cause, otherwise there would be no story.

However I have to admit that at this point I cannot remember the story so will run through the recording. The woman is 30 and the husband 45 year old shop keeper who is impotent, what is becoming a regular theme with the author. Mimi is now interested in the wife of his dentist!

This is not the main story of this episode and as suspected the investigation reveals something very different from the first appearance. It emerges that the wife wanted a neighbour who rejected her advances. To get revenge it was she who arranged with a young admirer at the gym to print the posters about herself. She had then pretended to be the subject of an attempted rape by the neighbour scratching her own legs which at one point she reveals to Salvo and Mimi. She claimed to have reluctantly revealed the truth of what happened to her husband who had shot the man, fortunately had survived been muttering some numbers which the police think is a number and then Salvo realises is the reference to a bible story. The woman and the poster maker are arrested. When the Inspector realises the significance the numbers and arranged to get a bible he calls at Mimi late at night only find that he is entertaining the wife of the dentist while the husband is away.

　

Salvo is at home about to enjoy food prepared by Adelina when Livia rings to say she has returned and he promises to contact his father whose call she and taken before leaving but he goes to bed without contacting. We now come to the main investigation when a 67 year old widower retired farmer of six years is found shot in bed by his niece who lives in the house him. The man is loan shark and there is a separate entrance to his office which customers use so she has no knowledge of who they are. There are records in the office but as is suspected not those involved with major loans. He is a nasty piece of work with 100 turning into 1000 within a short period of time. They are surprised about how little money is in the safe.

The parents of the niece died in a car crash and everything was OK with her uncle and his wife until the wife died when he commenced to take an interest in her. What also emerges is that the uncle required favours from the female client to whom he loaned money, thus widening the field of those who wanted him dead.

When the programme commenced Salvo complains to the delivery young man who can be described as a simpleton again the parallel with August Heat is noted. The young man has forgotten the Trapanese Pesto and when Salvo asks at the store when it is not brought round he is told they are out of stock and the firm making the sauce is on strike. The boy is missing and the store owner decides to report him as a missing person. Meanwhile Adelina complains about the use of Pesto when she can make a proper sauce which Salvo enjoys. The young man is found dead on the beach with a bullet in his back. The niece had said she fired at the intruder/murderer of her uncle so it appears this was the young which does not make sense to Salvo or his employer. The magistrate takes the view that the murdered man and the young man had a homosexual relationship, thy had argued and the young man had killed the loan shark, and when wounded he had been unable to go to hospital for help because that would incriminate him in the murder. The case could be closed.

However Salvo is far from satisfied. He tries to follow up who the loan shark used as a strong arm man and this brings him into contact with a school friend Gege, who has an attractive sister who Salvo was friendly with at one time. He has become a pimp on a beach site as well as a police informer. He introduces him to a woman who can name the man.

He advises the niece that she can return to her now that the case has been closed and arranges for the phone to be tapped. This results in her having contact with the strong arm man who will call at midnight ad that she has two things to give to him. Previously Salvo has met the father of the delivery boy who says that shortly before his death the boy had started to sing something he had not done before suggesting he had formed a relationship with someone. It is revealed that because the murdered ha attempted to sexually interfered with the niece she had planned revenge, first by having a relationship with the strong arm man who had killed his boss. She had befriend and used the young man getting him to call and therefore killing him as she was a good shot so that he took the blame for the murder. I cannot remember if she also planned to kill the strong arm man or they planned to jointly use the huge funds the loan shark had amassed.

Right at the end of episode Fazio retires following his latest check up and when he collects his things his son comes with him who is about to qualify and therefore Salvo agrees to support the request for the boy to replace his father as long as he promises not to be so thorough and pedantic with his researches.

This is not the final story as Livia has returned for a short stay and while Montalbano is out his father calls and they have a long chat but the stay is brief when the Salvo returns. The episode explains that when he was an adolescent his mother had died and he had been brought up by his uncle and aunt, this the parallel with the girl in the main story. His father was busy and had limited contact with him and one day he had not gone to school and gone to see his father and found that he had established a new relationship with a woman who had two boys of her own. Salvo felt his mother had been betrayed and that he had been betrayed hence the complicated relationship with his father. Livia comforts.

　

　

The Young Montalbano episode three Back to Basics

The third and fourth episodes of Young Montalbano are brilliant for their connection between the young and the old. Back to Basics begins with the arrival of Mimi Augello as a brash young man who cannot resist flirting with every young woman who comes into his field of vision whether they are single or married. Salvo takes an immediate dislike to his manner, especially towards him although they are of the same rank one is the body and the other deputy. They are then called to a break in where the only thing that appears to have been removed are the tops of some beer bottles.

The victim lives in a large house which he has filled everything from his life which he does not throw away and which he catalogues and organises in boxes on shelving...sounds familiar to what I am doing with artwork.

Just as at new Years Day Salvo decides to stay home on a Feast day and eat a great meal delivered by his favourite Trattoria with wine, water, starters and main courses and no doubt a sweet or two while Fazio and his family entertain Mimi at the Festival However just as he is about to tuck into the meal Fazio rings because a three year old girl has vanished and the weather has deteriorated into a rain storm. If the girl is not immediately found they will have to organise and official search, so Salvo has to immediately leave. The child is found by a couple alone outside their home and cared for after the parents have been informed When Salvo visits he finds Mimi already there and already taking an interest in the friend of the girl’s mother staying with them holiday one Livia Burlando. She and Salvo immediately take an interest in each other. When he calls the following day the husband says everything is Ok, the child is not harmed and he wants no further action. Salvo sees the child with Livia and tries to find out if the child has said anything to explain the period of her disappearance. The child draws pictures.

Meanwhile the theft of the bottle tops is being followed up with the growing belief after some research that the tops contained drugs in the bottle top had a supply had been delivered by mistake to the owner horder and a visit reveals that he had the boxes with their incriminating red cross. The plan is to keep watch on the premises where the special boxes should have been delivered

Meanwhile a grocer called Bonsignore and not Monsignor as introduced by Catarella, under pressure from Mrs Bonsignore asks if a child has been abducted before explaining an incident when the couple and attended the fiesta A man had rough handled a child into a car. This suggests it was not a random abduction but planned by someone who knew the family would be attending the fiesta. Mimi offers to take Livia out to find if she child has revealed more. Salvo accuses Mimi of trying to mix business with pleasure while Mimi retaliates that Salvo is jealous and he will drop out, stand back if Salvo is interested in Livia, which is denied.

Mimi subsequently advises Salvo of the outcome of the meeting that the wife’s brother and husband had quarrelled over the way their company was being managed. Salvo visits the maternal grandfather and find that the son and son in law have reached break down in their relationship over the future of the company.

His daughter and son in law and child have gone back home. Livia has stayed behind. He shows a pure rubber ball which he is to paint like the one that the child lost and we come to something which I thought at the time was significant. He visits the son and finds that he has now bought out his brother in law, he goes to dine at the Trattoria in the evening and see Livia with Mimi and she insists he joins them and they talk about the kidnapping which he should not have discussed with the young woman. Before going off he advises Mimi that he will pick him up at 5 for the stake out on the delivery of more wine which they hoped will included marked boxes containing drugs in the caps. His order ensures Mini and Livia do not spend the night together.

They find the drugs but he driver runs off and in the chase Fazio has a heart attack and this becomes the priority concern of everyone at the station. He survives much to the relief of Salvo and his colleagues. The drugs were under the cap as such but solidified as part of he cap. On returning to the police station Salvo encounters an angry building contractor who complains that he cannot win a contract because the mafia have influence on who gets contracts. A member of one mafia family had come to see him on behalf of the other who head has been on the run for many years and wanted to have a seat on the board as a way for the owner to get contracts, he had shown the emissary the door. That it appears the two Mafia families are doing business with each other is a great worry but it suggests a way into finding out about the kidnapping and the drug distribution if the head mafia man on the run is using other to front companies for him.

Livia comes to bring drawings from the child which show the abduction and that she had the coloured rubber ball with her. Because the child had not been wet when returned this suggests they she had been kept in a garage somewhere in the area during the rain storm,

He takes Livia on a search for the garage but they are unsuccessful. He returns the bottle tops to the hoarder who can do better than tell Salvo of those with garages in the area, he can show the house plans which he has kept from his period in office and there are three houses with garages in the area. He has a meal with Livia with Mimi making fun of him afterwards. Mimi Investigate the owners of the three properties and find that one has rented the house for a year to someone who not only has a criminal record but in related to one fo the mafia families.

From the previous episode the woman who son Salvo did not arrest bring some of the delicacies she sells to add to her income and Salvo finds he has a cleaner cook who is to serve him over the years and where he takes an interest in the sons, both petty criminals and where he has agreed to become the Godfather of the son of one to Livia‘s consternation until he agrees to become the Godfather also of Mimi‘s son. The grocers cannot identify the photo of the man renting the villa as the one who abducted the child. Salvo has another meal with Livia and she cannot remember if the child had not returned with something she had on her. She is going back to work the following day. Then Salvo has the brainwave. The ball, the girl had with her and he rushes back to the station promising to contact Livia in the morning before she leaves.

He then uses a bluff to get the son owner of the business to admit that he had been forced to bring in a representative of in Mafia families to his board as part of the expansion an another front company as the one using the bottle tops of beat to distribute the drugs. Salvo pretends that the fake ball is the original found in the a garage of the man who abducted the girl and who he brings into the room with Mimi having arrested on what looks a drink and fighting charge. He uses the replacement ball painted by the grandfather. He did not have grounds for searching the garage on the hunch the ball was there. He remembers Livia is leaving and rushes to the bus stop where he stop the vehicle and she offers to stay another day, They have a passionate kiss. The romance and relationships begins.

August Heat

As promised I now turn to Montalbano and I begin with the novel August Heat. Through the genius of Andrea Camilleri we experience the insufferable intensity of the heat in the Sicilian summer and too late Detective Inspector Salvo Montalbano sends staff to locate an appropriate fan although he manages to find one fo the small hand held fans which I have also used to cope with the heat of the Mediterranean day. The police crime story of this book happens by accident, in fact and literally. He is asked to find a suitable beach house on the island for the family of a relative of Livia who also plans to stay with them rather than wait alone at his home or elsewhere for Salvo as he is consumed by the latest cases to emerge. Salvo has great difficulty given that holiday properties have long since been hired but relatively close to hand he about to find a house on its own close the sea.

Everyone is pleased with the find until after a storm with great rain the house becomes infested on three separate occasions requiring the attention of local pest control the intervention of the local major. Just when it seems the visitors can settle and enjoy their holiday the three year old child of the couple disappears. The child is find with the help of a cat and where he is located brings to attention the practice of builders and land developers to try and maximise profit from speculative venture. In this instance a couple from Germany with a simpleton of a son had built the house on a hillside but had never used the property. The son had disappeared while travelling to Germany with the husband and the husband had died subsequently so the widow had asked the building agent to get rid o the property for her.

It is not clear if she was aware that her husband had done a deal with the proper agent site developer and builder to create a second property beneath that of the owner in such a way that it was complete except for adding the windows and doorway with the space covered to ensure the protection of everything else and then the whole level hidden by earth. Then after due time application would be made for the property to recognised despite the failure to gain planning permission and comply with the contemporary local regulations. Successive governments had given amnesty to all those who engaged in this widespread practice from time to time.

In this instance Salvo is curious about a trunk left in the living room and after the boy is reunited with his family he has an explore and finds a body carefully wrapped of a young girl Given the hour and the likelihood that he would not be able to find alternative accommodation for the family he leaves official action until the morning.

Livia and the family having overcome everything else of those first days are horrified that they spent the night oblivious that a body was below with Livia in particular refusing to accept Salvo’s reasoning that the body had been there at the outset and after the trauma of the boy getting himself into the flat and she and the family immediately retreated back to the mainland but as she departed the mood is created that some irreparable about her long standing relationship with Salvo and indeed before the books ends she has departed to sail with a male relative and became incommunicado with Salvo. Meanwhile!

Pieces of the puzzle commenced to emerge. The missing girl was identified as a beautiful young woman with a twin sister just as beautiful. There is something seductive about her manner when interviewed by Salvo but he knows he must resist her charms. His attention centre on the agent and builders especially when one, I cannot remember which is found to have an interest in adolescent girls and has taken trips to places where the poor will strike deals over their children. The way in to his murky world is through those who were engaged in work on the homes and in the sealing of the second home with the body in the trunk. It is also the finding that an immigrant worker had died on another site and that it had been made to look as if the man was drunk and fallen from a properly protected height when in fact evidence is found to show that the protecting rail was purchased later although proving in a court of law would be difficult to impossible. Salvo use the information gained about this situation as leverage in relation to the death of the girl.

According to his superiors the prime suspect is however the son of low intelligence of the property owner who has the habit of accosting young women usually for a kiss or just to touch. When the body of this young man is found naked close to a railway line it is assumed by Salvo’s master that this was a suicide and the case is closed the based that the dead girl was killed by the young man who had previously shown interest in her and hidden in the home before it was closed up.

However Salvo is far convinced with the more likely explanation that the young had accidentally opened the wrong door at night instead of the toilet. This young did not have the wit to kill and hide the girl. Salvo would like to believe the guilty man is the one with the penchant for adolescent girls, although in this instance young woman was older and the man appears to have a cast iron alibi by taking a flight to the Far East confirmed when his secretary notes a telephone call at the flight refuel stop.

The breakthrough comes when Salvo finds that the suspect was unable to get the connecting flight to Bangkok and he supposes that on his intended return to Vigate he to took the road to check that work on the secret home has been completed and sees the young girl and on the spur phones his secretary to stay he has reached the stop over destination unaware that since his last trip the flight no longer stopped over. He had abducted the girl and hidden her body in the trunk after killing her. On his return he had drawn up a contract with the agent to ensure that his firm was responsible for bringing the secret home back to life when the amnesty application was granted, enabling him to then dispose of the body. All this was conjecture based on circumstantial evidence and Salvo devises a plan with the willing assistance of the twin sister in which her family offer to purchase both properties and arranges to meet with Salvo close to hand and colleagues within shouting distance.

By this time the girl has seduced Salvo and he has given her his gun to hand as an added precaution. She uses the weapon to shoot her sister’s killer and Salvo then onoy realises that was her attention all along and that far from having a serious interest in him he was used and in the circumstances he has to give the impression that eh fired the shot when the man attacked the girl although it was she who had wrenched open her blouse to incite and incriminate the man who was shocked to initially discover the purchased appeared to be the girl he had killed several years before.

He responded to the realization by taking off his clothes and going for along swim in the waters below the crime scene. He had wept as swam out anger and humiliation he had been a puppet in her hands, all theatre and make believe. He had behaved as a child and not a fifty five year old.

I listened to an interview with sir Derek Jacobi earlier to day in which he made the point that those who want to act should not but those he needed to act should do. This truth applies to all of us driven in some profession, work, action but there are prices to pay and while expert at the myopic drive, the need there is often ignorance and innocence at other aspects of life.

There is also a moment towards the book when he sets out on a table all the dishes his housekeeper has prepared in the fridge, the green olives, the cured black pass ulna olives, celery, caciocavallo cheese and six dishes, one with fresh anchovies, one with calamaretti another with perpidettri, another with squid, another with tuna and one with sea snails. Each was dressed differently with more in the fridge. In inhaled the aromas He rings Livia and she does not respond. Adriana then arrives for the invited meal.