Inspector Montalbano Series Books in Order

Inspector Montalbano Series by Andrea Camilleri follows Salvo Montalbano, the chief of police in the fictional Sicilian town of Vigàta — a man of enormous appetites (food, particularly), considerable wit, deep love for his island, and genuine moral seriousness underneath his surface impatience and bluster. Montalbano is one of crime fiction's most beloved and distinctive detectives.

Camilleri writes with a joy in language and a love of Sicily that are completely infectious. The Montalbano novels are funny, atmospheric, and deeply embedded in the specific culture of southern Sicily — its rhythms, its food, its complicated relationship with the mainland, its ancient landscapes, and the particular way justice functions in a society that has its own parallel systems of order and obligation.

The series launched in 1994 and ran to twenty-eight novels (Camilleri wrote the final one, Riccardino, in sealed envelope to be published after his death). An enormously successful Italian TV series brought Montalbano to international audiences, making him arguably Italy's most famous fictional detective.

Begin with The Shape of Water and read in order for the developing relationships and character. Essential for anyone who loves European crime fiction, Italian culture, or detective fiction with genuine personality. No other crime series is quite like Montalbano.