August Heat by Andrea Camilleri ***

Reading dates: 01 November – 17 November 2020

Sometimes, I feel I have to read a Camilleri novel, if only for the descriptions of Enzo’s food and the warm Sicilian weather.  And, of course, the amazingly written Agatino Catarella. I love him. All of Camilleri’s novels are also short and funny. Little tonics. August Heat was all that and the perfect counterpoint to Lee Child’s South Dakotan extreme cold weather in 61 hours.

But Camilleri does not last, I find. August Heat was a delightful crime novel but it finished so abruptly, like a television show. No fluff at all and definitely well formed. I could not guess which way it was going to go and the denouement made good sense in retrospect, nothing predictable. But I have to admit it is was not very nourishing. It does abate hunger though, and when you teach many hours a day, are writing a book and tend to a 3-hour daily yoga practice, a bag of nice crisps can be sometimes what keeps you going. I need the salt and the carbs.

Where will I travel next on my crime fiction tour?