Andrea Camilleri Books In Order – Andrea Camilleri entered the world in 1925 in Empedocle, a small Sicilian town, and grew up under Mussolini’s fascist regime. As a rebellious child, he defaced a crucifix and got expelled from Catholic school. In the 1940s, he left university to pursue writing. While his early works struggled for recognition, he thrived as a theater director and television producer. At RAI, he adapted Commissioner Maigret’s Inquiries and created groundbreaking series like Le Avventure di Laura Storm. In 1992, he achieved literary success with Hunting Season, and in 1994, he soared to international fame with The Shape of Water, the first novel in his Inspector Montalbano series. From 1994 to 2019, he wrote more than 60 novels, including 30 Montalbano books. A successful TV adaptation boosted his fame further. By the time he passed away at 93, Camilleri had sold over 30 million books in 32 languages, leaving an enduring legacy in Italian literature and television.
Andrea Camilleri Books In Order
Publication Order of Inspector Montalbano Books
| Book Title | Year | Buy at Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| The Shape of Water | (1994) | Buy Now |
| The Terra-Cotta Dog | (1996) | Buy Now |
| The Snack Thief | (1996) | Buy Now |
| Voice of the Violin | (1997) | Buy Now |
| Excursion to Tindari | (2000) | Buy Now |
| The Smell of the Night / Scent of the Night | (2001) | Buy Now |
| Rounding the Mark | (2003) | Buy Now |
| The Patience of the Spider | (2004) | Buy Now |
| The Paper Moon | (2005) | Buy Now |
| The Wings of the Sphinx | (2006) | Buy Now |
| August Heat | (2009) | Buy Now |
| The Track of Sand | (2010) | Buy Now |
| The Potter’s Field | (2011) | Buy Now |
| The Age of Doubt | (2012) | Buy Now |
| The Dance of the Seagull | (2013) | Buy Now |
| Treasure Hunt | (2013) | Buy Now |
| Montalbano’s First Case and Other Stories | (2013) | Buy Now |
| Angelica’s Smile | (2014) | Buy Now |
| Game of Mirrors | (2015) | Buy Now |
| A Beam of Light / A Blade of Light | (2015) | Buy Now |
| A Voice in the Night | (2016) | Buy Now |
| A Nest of Vipers | (2017) | Buy Now |
| The Pyramid of Mud | (2018) | Buy Now |
| Death at Sea | (2018) | Buy Now |
| The Overnight Kidnapper | (2019) | Buy Now |
| The Other End of the Line | (2019) | Buy Now |
| The Safety Net | (2020) | Buy Now |
| The Sicilian Method | (2020) | Buy Now |
| The Cook of the Halcyon | (2021) | Buy Now |
| Riccardino | (2021) | Buy Now |
Chronological Order of Inspector Montalbano Books
| Book Title | Year | Buy at Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| Montalbano’s First Case and Other Stories | (2013) | Buy Now |
| Death at Sea | (2018) | Buy Now |
| The Shape of Water | (1994) | Buy Now |
| The Terra-Cotta Dog | (1996) | Buy Now |
| The Snack Thief | (1996) | Buy Now |
| Voice of the Violin | (1997) | Buy Now |
| Excursion to Tindari | (2000) | Buy Now |
| The Smell of the Night / Scent of the Night | (2001) | Buy Now |
| Rounding the Mark | (2003) | Buy Now |
| The Patience of the Spider | (2004) | Buy Now |
| The Paper Moon | (2005) | Buy Now |
| August Heat | (2009) | Buy Now |
| The Wings of the Sphinx | (2006) | Buy Now |
| The Track of Sand | (2010) | Buy Now |
| The Potter’s Field | (2011) | Buy Now |
| The Age of Doubt | (2012) | Buy Now |
| The Dance of the Seagull | (2013) | Buy Now |
| Treasure Hunt | (2013) | Buy Now |
| Angelica’s Smile | (2014) | Buy Now |
| Game of Mirrors | (2015) | Buy Now |
| A Beam of Light / A Blade of Light | (2015) | Buy Now |
| A Voice in the Night | (2016) | Buy Now |
| A Nest of Vipers | (2017) | Buy Now |
| The Pyramid of Mud | (2018) | Buy Now |
| The Overnight Kidnapper | (2019) | Buy Now |
| The Other End of the Line | (2019) | Buy Now |
| The Safety Net | (2020) | Buy Now |
| The Sicilian Method | (2020) | Buy Now |
| The Cook of the Halcyon | (2021) | Buy Now |
| Riccardino | (2021) | Buy Now |
Publication Order of Inspector Montalbano Short Stories/Novellas
| Book Title | Year | Buy at Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| The Artist’s Touch | (1998) | Buy Now |
| Catarella Solves a Case | (1999) | Buy Now |
| Montalbano Afraid | (2002) | Buy Now |
| Montalbano’s First Case | (2013) | Buy Now |
| Fifty Pairs of Hobnailed Boots | (2013) | Buy Now |
| Neck and Neck | (2013) | Buy Now |
| Fellow Traveler | (2013) | Buy Now |
| Dress Rehearsal | (2013) | Buy Now |
| Amore | (2013) | Buy Now |
| Montalbano’s Rice Balls | (2013) | Buy Now |
| As Alice Did | (2013) | Buy Now |
| The Pact | (2013) | Buy Now |
| Mortally Wounded | (2013) | Buy Now |
| Being Here . . . | (2013) | Buy Now |
| Seven Mondays | (2013) | Buy Now |
| Judicial Review | (2013) | Buy Now |
| Pessoa Maintains | (2013) | Buy Now |
| The Cat and the Goldfinch | (2013) | Buy Now |
| Montalbano Says No | (2013) | Buy Now |
| A Kidnapping | (2013) | Buy Now |
| Better the Darkness | (2013) | Buy Now |
Publication Order of Standalone Novels
| Book Title | Year | Buy at Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| Hunting Season | (1992) | Buy Now |
| The Brewer of Preston | (1995) | Buy Now |
| The Revolution of the Moon | (2013) | Buy Now |
| The Sect of Angels | (2019) | Buy Now |
Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas
| Book Title | Year | Buy at Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| As Alice Did | (2013) | Buy Now |
| The Sacco Gang | (2013) | Buy Now |
| Judge Surra | (2015) | Buy Now |
Publication Order of Children’s Books
| Book Title | Year | Buy at Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| The Story of the Nose(With: Nikolai Gogol) | (2013) | Buy Now |
Publication Order of Anthologies
| Book Title | Year | Buy at Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| Judges | (2015) | Buy Now |
Andrea Camilleri Biography
Andrea Camilleri was born in 1925 in the Sicilian coastal town of Empedocle to harbor official Giuseppe and his wife Carmelina. Growing up during Mussolini’s fascist regime, Camilleri quickly developed a rebellious streak. He got expelled from Catholic school for defacing a crucifix and later completed his education at a state school before enrolling in university. However, he left in the late 1940s to pursue writing. He penned short stories and poems, gaining some early recognition, but ultimately shifted focus to theater. He studied direction at the Accademia Nazionale d’Arte Drammatica and went on to direct works by playwrights like Samuel Beckett.
In 1957, Camilleri married Rosetta Dello Siesto and joined RAI, Italy’s newly founded state broadcaster. There, he found success producing investigative series like Commissioner Maigret’s Inquiries and the groundbreaking Le Avventure di Laura Storm, which featured a female martial-arts-trained detective—rare for 1960s Italy.
Though he published his first novel, Il Corso Delle Cose, in 1978, followed by Un Filo di Fumo in 1980, publishers often rejected his distinct style, which blended standard Italian with Sicilian dialect. His literary breakthrough came in 1992 with Hunting Season. Two years later, he introduced Inspector Montalbano in The Shape of Water, launching a wildly successful mystery series. Between 1994 and 2019, Camilleri wrote over 60 novels—30 of them starring the irritable but beloved Montalbano.
Despite being in his seventies and eighties, Camilleri maintained a prolific pace, sometimes publishing up to eight novels a year. The television adaptation of the Montalbano series, starring Luca Zingaretti, amplified his fame even further. His hometown proudly renamed itself Porto Empedocle Vigà ta to honor the fictional setting of his novels.
By the time of his death at 93, Andrea Camilleri had sold over 30 million books translated into more than 32 languages, securing his place as one of Italy’s most celebrated literary figures.
Short Notes on Andrea Camilleri Books
Inspector Montalbano Series
Andrea Camilleri based his Inspector Montalbano series partly on his father and named the character in tribute to Spanish writer Manuel Vázquez Montalbán. Set in the fictional town of Vigata, modeled on Camilleri’s hometown Empedocle, the novels draw from Pirandello’s works, local news, and other sources. Each book follows a set formula—18 chapters and about 180 pages. Montalbano is a gruff, sarcastic yet honest detective who resents politics and bureaucracy. More like Pepe Carvalho than Sherlock Holmes, he is incorruptible, compassionate, and deeply human—loving solitude, good food, and justice in equal measure, while subtly critiquing Italian society.
The Shape of Water
The Shape of Water marks Andrea Camilleri’s debut in the Inspector Montalbano series, introducing Salvo Montalbano—a non-conformist, world-weary detective who always gets the job done despite his flaws. When a local politician is found dead in a car in a neighborhood known for drugs and prostitution, officials urge Montalbano to close the case quickly, calling it a scandalous accident. Refusing to comply, Montalbano digs deeper and uncovers a tangled web of lies. Along the way, he meets quirky characters like an intellectual pimp and a cheated-on schoolteacher. As the investigation unfolds, he confronts the dark underbelly of Sicilian politics, church corruption, and bureaucratic collusion—determined to do his duty while navigating the chaos of a morally compromised world.
The Snack Thief
The Snack Thief begins with Inspector Montalbano receiving an early call from the Vigata police— a Tunisian man has been killed when a patrol boat attacked his trawler in international waters. The Italian government requests a full report, but Montalbano, uninterested, lets his deputy Mimi handle it. He focuses instead on two other cases: the brutal stabbing of a businessman in his apartment elevator and a seemingly trivial theft of pre-lunch snacks at a local school. As he investigates, Montalbano uncovers strange connections and suspects the three cases might be linked. With his sharp intuition and relentless curiosity, he begins to peel back layers of deception, exposing deeper truths hidden beneath the surface of ordinary crimes.
FAQ: Andrea Camilleri Books
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Who was Andrea Camilleri?
Andrea Camilleri was an Italian author, screenwriter, and director best known for his Inspector Montalbano crime novels. He was born in 1925 and passed away in 2019 at the age of 93.
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What is the Inspector Montalbano series about?
The series follows Inspector Salvo Montalbano, a sharp but unconventional Sicilian detective who solves crimes while navigating local politics, corruption, and his own personal quirks.
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How many Montalbano books are there?
There are 28 novels and several short story collections featuring Inspector Montalbano.
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What makes Camilleri’s writing unique?
Camilleri blends crime fiction with humor, social commentary, and vivid descriptions of Sicilian life. His use of local dialects also adds authenticity.
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