Excursion to Tindari

Excursion to Tindari (orig. Ital. La gita a Tindari) is a 2000 novel by Andrea Camilleri, translated into English in 2005 by Stephen Sartarelli. It is the fifth novel in the internationally popular Inspector Montalbano series, and, upon publication in English, was shortlisted for the CWA Duncan Lawrie International Dagger for best translated crime novel of the year.

The story takes place between Vigata and picturesque Tindari, a promontory of historical and archaeological beauty, in search of the mysterious bond that has united in the same violent death three persons unrelated to each other. Thanks to his unique professional insight and perhaps even more to his feelings as a sensitive man, Montalbano successfully concludes the investigation, moving in between the boundaries set by the world of tradition and that of modernity. In his fifties, examining his life and a future that seems to be saturated with senseless technology and hopeless inhumanity, with corruption and globalisation rendering everything shapeless, Montalbano feels out of place and lonely. Beyond these considerations and uncertainties that increase the reality of the character, author Camilleri continues the "saga" of Inspector Montalbano, confirming the wisdom of his skillful narrative, which combines a charming language constantly reaching out to the Sicilian language (ably translated by Sartarelli), with the suspenseful plot and the vivid characters.