Excursion to Tindari (Inspector Montalbano Series #5) Book

"Excursion to Tindari" is the 5th book in the Inspector Montalbano series by Andrea Camilleri. And it's every bit as good as the previous four books. It seems that most of the series books that I read have strong, likeable, morally-rewarding men as their main character. Montalbano is no exception to this rule. He may come across as gruff and brusque but this is a wall of deception. And behind this wall is a man who cuts corners and steps outside of the boundaries of the law only when matters are small and lead to a bigger action of justice.

Jacket notes: "A young Don Juan is found murdered in front of his apartment building early one morning, and an elderly couple is reported missing after an excursion to the ancient site of Tindari--two seemingly unrelated cases for Inspector Montalbano to solve amid the daily complications of life at Vigáta police headquarters. But when Montalbano discovers that the couple and the murdered young man lived in the same building, his investigation stumbles onto Sicily's brutal "New Mafia", which leads him down a path more evil and far-reaching than any he has been down before."

The mystery in this book is one that leads down multiple roads. Twists and turns there may be, but Montalbano finds solutions while lying underneath an old olive tree...quite literally. I like the way Camilleri allows all of his characters to grow and develop a bit more in each book in the series. It only makes me keep coming back for more.