Andrea Camilleri, creator of Inspector Montalbano, dies at 93

Andrea Camilleri, the acclaimed Italian writer, director, and playwright, died in Rome at age 93. He suffered a cardiac arrest on June 17 and was hospitalized at Santo Spirito Hospital. Camilleri was best known for creating the fictional Inspector Montalbano, protagonist of a bestselling novel series published by Sellerio that became a cult TV show on Rai 1. Born in Porto Empedocle, Sicily, in 1925, he studied at the Liceo Classico "Empedocle" in Agrigento and later attended the Accademia di Arte Drammatica Silvio d'Amico in Rome, graduating in 1952. He directed over 100 works, notably bringing Beckett's Endgame to Italy in 1958. His first Montalbano novel, La forma dell'acqua, was published in 1994. His final novel, Il cuoco dell'Alcyon, was released weeks before his death and topped Italian bestseller lists. Camilleri was also set to perform Autodifesa di Caino at the Baths of Caracalla in Rome on July 15.