The Overnight Kidnapper
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4.7 • 11 Ratings
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- £4.99
Publisher Description
The Overnight Kidnapper is the twenty-third Inspector Montalbano mystery, from the international bestselling author Andrea Camilleri.
After a hectic morning involving two rather irritating cases of mistaken identity, Inspector Montalbano finally arrives in his office ready to find out what’s troubling Vigàta this week. What he discovers is unnerving. A woman on her way home from work has been held up at gunpoint, chloroformed and kidnapped, but then released just hours later – unharmed and with all her possessions – into the open countryside.
Later that day, Montalbano hears from Enzo, the owner of his favourite restaurant, that his niece has recently been the victim of the exact same crime. Before long, a third instance of this baffling overnight kidnapping has been reported.
As far as Montalbano can tell, there is no link between the attacker and the victims. So what exactly is this mystery assailant gaining from these fleeting kidnappings? And what can he do to stop them? Montalbano must use all his logic and intuition if he is to answer these pressing questions before the kidnapper finds his next victim . . .
The Overnight Kidnapper is followed by the twenty-fourth gripping Montalbano mystery, The Other End of the Line.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Two women are abducted, held overnight, and released without harm or ransom demands, stumping Sicily's Insp. Salvo Montalbano and his colleagues, in bestseller Camilleri's welcome 23rd novel featuring the world-weary policeman (after 2018's The Pyramid of Mud). They discover that the first two victims and then a third are all low-level bank employees, but otherwise make little progress. Meanwhile, they must look into an arson case and the disappearance of the torched shop's owner. The stakes rise as the cases intertwine and two bodies turn up. Montalbano punctuates his deductions with wry observations and classical allusions; he follows his frequent lunches at Enzo's trattoria by seaside walks where he gets his best thinking done. The aging detective's insights into the darker side of human nature allow him to cut through the red herrings as the action builds to a crisp, decisive ending. The Sicilian dialect of the police station's switchboard operator, as rendered in Sartarelli's adept translation, provides comic relief. Camilleri fans are in for a treat.)
