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Book Review for
The Terra-Cotta Dog
by Andrea Camilleri
The 2nd Inspector Salvo Montalbano mystery.
This story opens with Inspector Montalbano being invited to a secret meeting
with
a high-level Mafia figure who arranges for his own arrest by Montalbano. This
makes
no sense, and neither does an innocuous nighttime grocery store burglary, where
the
abandoned goods are left in plain view. Following clues that seem to lead
nowhere is
one of Montalbano's many fine qualities. His investigation leads to an old cave
where
the
bodies of two lovers have lain since World War II. They have been carefully
arranged
with coins, a water jug, and a terra-cotta dog. Reading a Montalbano
mystery
is to be treated to a hero who is highly skilled, compassionate,
empathetic,
moral, with a strong sense of justice and a love for fine Sicilian food.