The Dance of the Seagull by Andrea Camilleri Narrator: Grover Gardner
Series: Commissario Montalbano #15
Published by Blackstone Audio, Inc. on February 26, 2013
Source: Library
Genres: Mystery
Length: 5 hrs 44 mins
Format: Audiobook
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Before leaving for vacation with Livia, Montalbano witnesses a seagull doing an odd dance on the beach outside his home - and then the bird suddenly drops dead. Stopping in at his office for a quick check before heading off, he notices that Fazio is nowhere to be found and soon learns that he was last seen on the docks, secretly working on a case. Montalbano sets out to find him and discovers that the seagull's dance of death may provide the key to understanding a macabre world of sadism, extortion, and murder.
I’m not sure how many Montalbano mysteries I’ve listened to/read now. They start to run together a little. This one opens with a seagull dying on a beach. This scene comes back later as a kind of vision that helps Montalbano solve the case – which is odd and doesn’t feel like it fits with the series. Also out of character is that Montalbano refers to “that television series” and later the comment “Little surprise that Montalbano couldn’t tell Camilleri how the story would end.” I don’t want my mysteries to be that aware of themselves as fiction, but maybe that’s just me.
Aside from that, the book was fine. It’s been a little while since I finished listening to it and that part that I remember the best is how concerned Montalbano was with finding Fazio, how important it was. And once Fazio’s found, keeping him safe becomes important. Montalbano forgets all about Livia, his long-time lover, coming in for a planned visit, but that’s not really surprising. Livia is rarely top in his mind.
I don’t really remember much about the mystery itself. It was a complicated, there was a cross-dresser, the Mafia of course, lots of food. Montalbano’s grumbly and talks to himself a lot. Not my favorite of the series, but not terrible either.
I put the first 3 episodes of the tv series on hold at the library. I haven’t seen any of them, but it might translate really well to tv.
About Andrea Camilleri
Andrea Camilleri (born September 6, 1925 in Porto Empedocle) is an Italian writer. He is considered one of the greatest Italian writers of both 20th and 21st centuries. Camilleri lives in Rome where he works as a TV and theatre director. About 10 million copies of his novels have been sold to date, and are becoming increasingly popular in the UK and North America.