On New Year's Day in 1880, a steam-driven packet boat from Palermo delivers a mysterious stranger to the little village of Vigata, where everyone knows each other's secrets. His presence greatly upsets 90-year-old Don Filippo, whose body is soon found in the surf, an apparent suicide. Then Don Filippo's mentally challenged son is found poisoned by mushrooms--even though he was a mushroom expert. Is it just a coincidence that, long ago, the new arrival's father had his throat cut in Vigata--a crime that was never solved?
Vigata, the imaginary Sicilian setting for Hunting Season--a lean, addictive mystery from Italian noir superstar Andrea Camilleri--is the setting, too, of Camilleri's contemporary Inspector Montalbano series. At the center here is the young stranger, always at the right place at the right time, resisting the overtures of the lusty Signora Clelia while befriending everyone with his skills and advice. Secret love and filial vengeance keep the town simmering as the members of the Peluso family begin dying mysteriously, one by one.
Figuring out who the central characters are in this dark Sicilian comedy is half the fun, and Camilleri leads you down several false trails before the real plot begins to emerge. Teeming with dozens of earthy rural types, crackling with hotheaded Italian insults, each combustible scene bubbles with emotions of every variety. Camilleri's work feels effortless as he toys with alternate choices like a playful driver twisting the wheel, swerving across the line, fooling his passengers into screams, repeatedly inspiring that delicious, familiar chill of doubt. --Nick DiMartino, Nick's Picks, University Book Store, Seattle, Wash.