Cathy C. (cathyskye) - , reviewed on 7/31/2018 + 2275 more book reviews

Not every book in a long-running series such as this can be a winner, and Camilleri's Treasure Hunt is not one of his best. I found it jarring. After the incident in the elderly snipers' apartment, Montalbano has to deal with "homicide withdrawal," and this is when the book takes a turn toward slapstick comedy (which is often hilarious). My favorite switchboard operator, Catarella himself, also has several scenes. Then in the last hundred pages, the tone becomes dark as the plot concentrates on the author of the treasure hunt.

Treasure Hunt is definitely a marriage of total opposites, and like many marriages, it's not completely successful. However, it is to be enjoyed for its wonderful sense of humor and for the chance to watch Montalbano's mind at work. His intuition is phenomenal. (In addition, it has added to my store of colloquialisms: "having a few cats to comb" -- a Sicilian expression which means to have tedious, difficult, and useless chores to attend to. Love it!)

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