A New Investigation for Sellerio

This study presents selected results from an analysis of works published by Sellerio Editore, based on two distinct corpora. The first corpus (78 crime novels by 16 authors) provided an overall mapping of texts and writers in terms of similarities and differences, and situated the six novels by Andrea Camilleri within the broader landscape of contemporary crime fiction. Although the corpus includes both authors with strong individual stylistic traits and others who embody the most canonical traits of the genre, Camilleri’s works emerge as markedly distinct from all other texts examined in the study. The second corpus (70 works by Camilleri) allows for a more in-depth investigation of both continuity and discontinuity in his narrative trajectory, as well as a clear separation between the Montalbano series and the rest of his production. Further analysis of the Montalbano series reveals a well-defined diachronic evolution and a structured set of recurring topics, alongside a distinctive use of linguistic registers ranging from standard Italian to Sicilian dialect and beyond. Overall, this first exploratory analysis of the two corpora provides a methodological and empirical basis for several avenues of further research, opening the way to more detailed investigations into stylistic variation, thematic development, and the linguistic strategies that characterize both Camilleri’s work and contemporary Italian crime fiction more broadly.