READERS GUIDE

Introduction

“This knight, who now approached, at first glance
Had recognized, though from afar, the one
Who with angelic beauty unsurpassed
In amorous enchantment held him fast” (from Angelica’s Smile, p. 79)
 
For Inspector Salvo Montalbano, jealousy is a fact of life. Since he lives in Sicily and his long-term, long-distance girlfriend, Livia, lives in Liguria, Montalbano frequently contends with her suspicions and accusations of infidelity. In the seventeenth installment of Andrea Camilleri’s bestselling series, however, Montalbano and Livia will find their relationship tested when an alluring burglary victim turns the Inspector into a bumbling schoolboy.

A bold gang of burglars has just victimized Doctor Peritore and his wife Caterina. While the Peritores were at their seaside villa, intruders rendered them unconscious with knockout gas, took all of their valuables, stole their keys, and drove back to town to rob their main residence in Vigàta. The Peritores are among Vigàta’s elite, and the burglars made off with a substantial amount of cash, jewels, and fine art.

Montalbano asks the Peritores for a list of everyone who knew they were going to be at their villa. Besides their housekeeper, they name fifteen men and women—including another couple that had recently been robbed in the exact same fashion. Were the Peritores robbed by a friend? Montalbano is certain of two things: the criminals are too sophisticated to be local, and “the name of the next person to be burgled is on that list” (p. 36).

Out of the blue, Montalbano receives an anonymous letter from someone claiming to be the gang’s ringleader. The letter informs the Inspector that there will be two more burglaries—unless Montalbano can prevent them. At that point, the note’s author will “HAVE HAD A LOT OF FUN” (P. 70), and the crime spree will end. Montalbano is pondering his next move when one of the women on the Peritores’ list asks to meet with him.

Angelica Cosulich has just been robbed, but asks Montalbano for a special favor. Normally, the Inspector would refuse, but his professionalism vanishes because the beautiful young woman he meets “look[s] exactly like . . . Angelica in Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso, or at least the way he’d imagined her and pined for her” (p. 78) when he was just sixteen.

The fifty-eight-year-old Inspector is smitten, and, despite the fact that the real Angelica is half his age, Montalbano immediately begins imagining the two of them as the hero and heroine of Ariosto’s medieval romance. On their way to lunch at his favorite restaurant, he prepares to tell her how he prefers to enjoy his meals in silence when Angelica says, “I don’t like to talk when I’m eating” (p. 105).

With Livia far away, Montalbano’s fate is sealed. He agrees to withhold information from his official report in order to protect Angelica’s reputation. But when another anonymous letter arrives, the Inspector must return to reality or risk being trumped by a criminal mastermind who always manages to stay one step ahead.

Capturing the celebrated Sicilian Inspector at one of his weakest—and most delightfully human— moments, Angelica’s Smile is rich with the inimitable humor, atmosphere, and delicious dishes that have made the series beloved around the world.

Questions and Topics for Discussion

1. The arrival of the first anonymous letter makes Montalbano realize, “he hadn’t made many friends over the course of his life. . . . But deep down, weren’t Fazio, Mimi Augello, and even Catarella by now more friends than coworkers?” (p. 69) What do these musings reveal about Montalbano’s current state?

2. Inspector Montalbano falls for Angelica Cosulich, in part, because she looks exactly like an idealized woman he “pined for . . . at age sixteen” (p. 78). Have you ever reacted to someone based on his or her resemblance to someone else rather than who he or she was as a person?

3. Why do the passions of our youth hold such a lasting sway over us?

4. Camilleri opens the novel with Montalbano enraged with jealousy over something Livia said in her sleep. How does this incident affect your opinion of his later actions?

5. After hearing Livia talk about “Carlos,” Montalbano hears and sees the name all around him. Has this phenomenon ever happened to you? What do you think it means?

6. Does the fact that Angelica immediately tells Montalbano that she pays men for no-strings-attached sex make her a suspicious character? Would you judge Angelica’s sexual habits differently if she were a man?

7. Discuss Camilleri’s author’s note, in which he states, “Everything else was entirely invented by me and has no connection to reality. Assuming of course that one can exclude reality from a novel” (p. 287). How much reality do you like in your fiction?

8. (Spoiler Warning: Don’t read on if you don’t what to know whodunit!)






“The game cossitts o’ doin’ a most damage y’can do to the apposing couple, who’d be the avversary, bu’ also tryin’ a proteck y’r own partner from danger” (p. 226). Catarella’s seemingly irrelevant description of his computer game gives Montalbano a crucial insight onto this baffling case. Did it help you? 

9. When Montalbano confesses his infidelity to Livia, she thinks he’s joking. If you’ve read previous books in the series, is his behavior in this novel characteristic of their relationship? Does Livia deserve better or are she and Montalbano well-suited to one another?

10. Were Angelica and her cousin Ettore Schisa justified in their pursuit of revenge? Is Antonino Pirrera’s death poetic justice?

11. Might they have gotten away with their plan if Schisa hadn’t taunted Montalbano with his anonymous letters?

12. Was Angelica shot because Montalbano failed to adequately protect her? Did he owe it to her to prevent her arrest, or did she deserve to pay for her role in the crimes?

About this Author

Andrea Camilleri is the bestselling author of the popular Inspector Montalbano mystery series, as well as historical novels that take place in nineteenth-century Sicily. His books have been adapted for Italian television and translated into thirty-two languages. His thirteenth Montalbano novel, The Potter’s Field, won the Crime Writers’ Association International Dagger Award and was longlisted for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.
 
Stephen Sartarelli is an award-winning translator and the author of several volumes of poetry.