A review by liberrydude
Summertime, All the Cats Are Bored by Philippe Georget

3.0

A weird title totally unrelated to the story. Yes, there's a cat but it's only mentioned in passing. It's another hot summer in France near the Spanish border on the Mediterranean coast and a police detective is anything but bored as he's facing not only some professional challenges but questions about his wife's fidelity. His kids are away with friends. His wife goes on a cruise alone and he's probably facing the case or cases of a lifetime involving a kidnapping, a murder, and an attempted kidnapping all of Dutch women. Are they related? Gilles, the detective, is pretty calm and seeks solace in swimming in his pool and good food. He reminds me a lot of Inspector Montalbano except he is happily married or is he? As he has time for introspection he has caught his wife in a white lie and agonizes over whether to become a detective in his relationship. The plot moves along slowly and steadily and some of the slights the detective engage in seem petty in their eagerness to get it right. It's a sedate page turner. They are a pretty competitive bunch of cops. The ending is tied up in a satisfactory manner but I was still surprised the cops didn't forsee one of the end results but there are plenty of surprising twists and turns. Hoping there are more to come from Philippe Georget with Inspector Gilles Sebag.