Today let’s look at The Pyramid of Mud by Andrea Camilleri and translated by Stephen Sartarelli for Book Beginnings on Fridays.

Book Beginnings is a fun meme hosted by Rose City Reader blog. To participate, share the first sentence or so of a novel you are reading and your thoughts about it. When you are finished, add your URL to the Book Beginnings page linked above. Hope to see you there!

 

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The Pyramid of Mud by Andrea Camilleri

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Summary:  When someone shoots accountant Giugiù Nicotra  in the back on a construction site, the victim crawls into a water supply tunnel. Inspector Montalbano comes to investigate and soon begins to wonder if the place Nicotra died was supposed to send a message.

Note:  Author Andrea Camilleri is currently 92 years old and is still writing.

First Sentence:

The thunderclap was so loud that not only did Montalbano suddenly wake up in terror, but he gave such a start that he nearly fell out of bed.

Discussion:

I always wonder about translations. How much freedom does the translator have? For example, in this one I wondered about the “not only, but” construction, which seemed like it should be “not only, but he also“?

I haven’t read any Inspector Montalbano mysteries before. I picked up this copy from our local library’s new mystery display. The books in the series seem to be quite popular. Now I wonder whether I should go pick up the first one before going any further with this one.

What do you think? Have you read any mysteries in this series? Should I read it in order?