Paperback, 261 pages

English language

Published Dec. 13, 2020 by Penguin Books.

ISBN:
978-0-14-313496-1
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Montalbano and crew get involved with a long ago incident unearthed by a set of cryptic Super-8 film reels, and a modern incident involving crytpo-terrorists brandishing guns at a high school.

2 editions

The Safety Net

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One of Montalbano’s acquaintances draws his attention to a set of home movies, each showing the same view of a wall. Notes on each box indicate they were shot at the same time on the same day from 1958 to 1963. This piques Montalbano’s interest, and he promises to look into it. While that’s going on, a more serious situation develops at a local middle school when a pair of gunmen in Anonymous masks terrorize a classroom. There’s also some business about a Swedish-Italian film crew making a movie about love-struck kids in 1950s Vigàta. This business provides a couple of minor plot points, but seems to be in the story mostly to give Montalbano something new to complain about.

Montalbano’s informal investigation recalls his work in The Terracotta Dog: both require unraveling long-ago events, and both involve him staring at walls. The school case is Augello’s because Montalbano …