AUGUST HEAT.

As suspected I was too weak and found myself giving into THE TEMPTATION that is The What's In A Name 5 Reading Challenge and so give you my first read which fits perfectly into 'A book with a something you'd find on a calendar in the title' category.........

AUGUST HEAT by ANDREA CAMILLERI.

In the lazy, slow month of August, Inspector Montalbano and his girlfriend, Livia, prepare for a relaxing holiday in a villa he has found for them. It is, he assures, her far too hot for anything exciting to happen. But when Livia's friends' young son goes missing, a series of events is sparked which will certainly ruin the Chief Inspector's pleasant interlude.

A secret apartment and a grisly find in an old trunk are just the beginning: Montalbano must navigate his way though the case as well as coping with the sweltering heat, the suspicious death of an Arab labourer and the tempting lure of a beautiful girl.....
...... Outer back cover.

OPENING SENTENCE (Chapter 1): He was sleeping so soundly that not even cannon-fire could have woken him.

MEMORABLE MOMENT (Page 123): "Fazio, I didn't say we did anything wrong. I said I didn't like it."
"You mean the way we treated Filiberto?"
"Yes"
"But Chief, he's a criminal!"
"And we're not?"

KEEP IT OR NOT?: A readers group read, I have no intention of buying a copy.

Oh dear, not a good start to the new year reading wise, my first book wasn't particularly to my liking and this one was even less so.

The 10th in a series of books, none of which I have read before, I don't know if its because this just wasn't my cup of tea OR if this was just a one-off that wasn't a true representation of the authors usual high standard of writing OR if it was an indication that the series was perhaps becoming a little tired - either way I didn't enjoy the novel and would certainly question whether or not it worked as a mystery come crime novel.

Not only was there a weak plot, but the dialogue tended to be repetitive (if the heat was mentioned once it was mentioned a hundred times) ....... And as if this wasn't bad enough I found the characters ludicrously stereotypical - Montalbano being an none too faithful Italian who when dealing with women (especially a certain beautiful twin) often seemed to think with, err, how can I put this politely? an organ other than his brain - if you get my meaning.  Then, of course, there were the beautiful, sexy twins who were able to feel exactly what their sibling was feeling despite not even being in the same vicinity, dodgy builders (most of them foreigners), and corrupt cops, oh and a real brat of a child - not a single one of them was even vaguely likable.

No, most certainly not my cup of tea at all though it has to be said that I do know that both this author as well as his Inspector Montalbano creation are widely loved and acclaimed as great reading.