Summertime, All the Cats Are Bored: An Inspector Sebag Mystery

Written by Philippe Georget

Narrated by Nicholas Tecosky

The first Inspector Sebag mystery. “The plot is intricate and tense . . . [A] fantastic French ticking-clock thriller.”—Daily Mail
It’s the middle of a long hot summer on the French Mediterranean shore and the town is teeming with tourists. Sebag and Molino, two tired cops who are being slowly devoured by dull routine and family worries, deal with the day’s misdemeanors and petty complaints at the Perpignan police headquarters. But then a young Dutch woman is found murdered on a beach at Argelès, and another one disappears without a trace in the alleys of the city. Is it a serial killer obsessed with Dutch women? Maybe. The media senses fresh meat and moves in for the feeding frenzy. Out of the blue, Inspector Gilles Sebag finds himself thrust into the middle of a diabolical game. In order to focus on the matter at hand, he will have to put aside his cares, forget his suspicions about his wife’s unfaithfulness, ignore his heart murmur, and get over his existential angst. But there is more to the case than anyone suspects.
“This is a superlative debut novel from the world of French noir. A perfect beach read.”—La Repubblica
“[An] appealing hero . . . a crime novel très formidable.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Georget provides great details along with a pace that lets the reader soak up those late-night swims and wine-soaked dinners in the end-of-summer Mediterranean heat.”—Star Tribune
“A stylish debut novel . . . A superior beach read for fans of international crime.”—Booklist

• Language: English
• Publisher: Everand Productions
• Release date: Apr 6, 2021
• ISBN: 9781094416274

Philippe Georget

Philippe Georget was born in Epinay-sur-Seine in 1962. He works as a TV news anchorman for France-3. A passionate traveler, in 2001 he drove the entire length of the Mediterranean shoreline in an RV with his wide and three children. He lives in Perpignan. Summertime All the Cats are Bored, his debut novel, won the SNCF Crime Fiction Prize and the City of Lens First Crime Novel Prize.

Reviews for Summertime, All the Cats Are Bored

[Andrew Douglas · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Very odd enunciation and emphasis by reader…sounds like imperfect AI. Good to know a lunch or salad feature as prominently as supposedly exciting interactions!

[Mariam Shah-Rais · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This psychological thriller drew me in and captivated my attention. I would have liked if there had been more on the psychology of the kidnapper. The biggest issue I had was with the narrator, and his quasi bad Mexican American accent, which has nothing to do with either French or Catalan accents. It is so out of place. And he butchered many French names of places and people. I don’t understand why narrators don’t do a little essential homework and why they feel compelled to create wrong accents, when the story can be easily understood without forcing any accent onto the narrative.

[Michelle Fiander · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The reading is …terrible: narrated in an American voice—ok; but then dialog is read in a bizarre accent—the inspector and his boss sound vaguely Italian…occasionally Eastern European…. Regardless, not remotely French. May have to read the book? I am uncomfortable with the star rating because I don’t know if the book is good. Should be two ratings for audiobooks—one for reading/narration , the other for the book itself.

[Anjana Chillumuntala · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The locales are interesting and different from the usual English countryside

[Val Menzies · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It took a while to get into it and get the characters straight , but I really enjoyed the last half .

[Maggie Norris · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Several good characters.
The “crime plot” is convoluted, somewhat fanciful. A reader who likes that in a detective novel will probably enjoy this book.
Interesting settings.
Very interesting subplot involving the detective and his wife.

[Lara Pretorius · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An interesting story-I really liked the main character. Would recommend ?

[Felicity Ross · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Work of art. Never a dull moment in this intricate and intriguing work.

[Gary Mahan · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Enjoyable, but could have been more so without the details of Sebag's domestic life.

[Dian · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I had to stop listening not because of the narrator or the length of the book but because of the main character he's so damn stupid not good at anything it bored the hell out of me has a husband and father he has a lot to be desired so I am not too surprised as a police man he's no good that's it for me with this author

[Gabe · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A better narrator, and story. The ending left too much unsaid, and there were too many descriptive details that had no pertinence to the story.

[MR · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Since when is the Loire Valley pronounced Low-are-ay? And, really, the
morning 'piss' was far too graphic. Five minutes was enough of this book for me.

[Sigridur Thorarensen · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I did not much care for the reader as well.

[E J Morgan · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A reasonable cop novel, that was let down by the narrator. For some reason he decided to give all the characters an unnecessary accent - but to make it worse it was a Spanish/Mexican accent when the novel was set in France and all the characters were French. If American narrators are going to read European novels then please get the accents right or dont do them. It's far to distracting and irritating

[Gráinne Costello · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Definitely in the noir style a classic police procedural but in France

[Alison Howard · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Why pick a narrator whose French is so flatly American-accented?

[Leah Barton Tew · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

If this book was the only exposure I’d ever had to France or French people, I would assume they are the most stupid people in the world…or at least they have the most stupid police in the world. The book is also peppered with a healthy dose of misogyny.

Otherwise, the translation to English is just “ok”. In many places they use words or phrases that make sense in English, but just aren’t the way a Brit or American would say them; they most likely are literal translations. This is not a big deal, but they are just noticeable enough to take you out of the story momentarily.

Overall, I would recommend you pass on this one.

[vecharo · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not bad at all. On the slower side of a good pace. Easy to follow and kept my interest. Voice actor did very well.