WEEKLY GEEKS: Fun Facts About an Author, week #24

Weekly Geeks this week is to highlight an author. I am choosing Andrea Camilleri, author of the Inspector Montalbano mysteries. I've read the first four in the series. All info is from wiki. What did we do before wikipedia?

• born in 1925 in Porto Empedolco, Italy (Sicily)
• was a director and screenwriter in Italian television for many years
• wrote his first novel in 1978, but it was not successful
• in 1994 he wrote the first Inspector Montalbano mystery
• there has been a TV series made about Montalbano which was very popular in Italy
• there are 14 books in the series, not all available in English yet
• he has written over 40 other novels - very prolific as he didn't start writing until he was over 50
• he lives in Rome and still works as a TV and theatre producer
• about 10 million copies of his novels have been sold
• Sicily has tours based on Montalbano's imaginary Vigata and located in his hometown. (that reminds me of how people come to Cavendish, the village Avonlea is based on) Those tours sound so cool. I bet the food would be fabulous, as Montalbano revels in good food. It's a big part of the novels
• I would have liked to look for information on his website, but it is all in Italian