Being an avid reader, I'm always on the lookout for new books and although I'll choose books from a wide selection of genre, I've been particularly partial to crime/mystery/detective novels lately. I've read every Agatha Christie who-done -it, as well as Dorothy L. Sayers, a few by Elizabeth George , Denzil Meyrick, Erle Stanley Gardner and Ed McBain, to name just a handful.
In May, 2023, I came upon and article online entitled The 9 Books you Must Read in 2023. One of the books in that list of nine was Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon. I was so impressed by Death at La Fenice that I began reading all of the books in Leon's "Commissario Guido Brunetti" series.......33 books in total. I finished the final book, A Refiner's Fire in February of this year.
The entire "Commissario Guido Brunetti" series takes place in Venice, Italy where Leon lived for many year. Leon will be 84 next month; I don't suspect she'll have another novel coming out any time soon - if at all.
Having finished Leon's books, I went looking for other crime/mystery/detective novels taking place in Italy. That's when I discovered Andrea Camilleri. Camilleri wrote 28 novels in his "Inspector Salvo Montalbano" series, which take place in Sicily. As I write this, I'm reading #12 in the series, The Track of Sand.
The two writers are similar in several ways. Naturally, there are quite a few differences as well. As I said, Leon's Commissario Brunetti lives and works in Venice, while Camilleri's Inspector Montalbano works in Sicily in the fictional city of Vigàta.
Leon's novels were written in English, sprinkled with the occasional phrase in Italian or the Veneto dialect. Leon's novels have been translated into several languages, although Italian isn't one of them. She has specifically forbidden her books to be translated into Italian.
Camilleri's novels were written in Italian with a substantial amount of Sicilian phrases and grammar thrown in.
Commissario Brunetti is married, with two children. His wife, Paola is quite the cook, and her meals are described in detail in every story.
Unlike Brunetti, Montalbano isn't married but is involved in a long distance relationship with a woman (Livia Burlando) living in Genoa. Like Brunetti, Montalbano spends a lot of time eating, and the dishes are also described in detail.
Neither detective gets along with his immediate supervisor. That seems to be Standard Operating Procedure in this genre. Both writers appear to prefer their novels not have happy endings.
The two series are entertaining and I hesitate to say which I like more.
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