The Shape of Water (Inspector Montalbano Series #1) Book

Well now...
I decided to try Camilleri because I'd watched one of the Montalbano series on TV. You know how it is, you find the characters and scenery interesting, the story lines are good... you're just hooked and want to try the "real" thing just to see how it matches up.
The first thing I'm going to say is that they don't feel the same. The TV detective is super-cool in that dark Italian way, his team are efficient and work well together. Camilleri's Montalbano... well he's somehow slightly distant, almost aloof in an intellectual sort of way. His team are highly individualistic and almost inefficient (yet seem to get things done in a casual sort of way). Montalbano does the running, almost always on his own. He knows who's in who's pocket and how to manipulate situations. Camilleri's Montalbano is cool in a very different way.
The landscape didn't come across for me, nor did the climate, yet there was something very relaxed about the whole thing, a hint of not rushing about in the heat... even the drive-by shootings and incidental murders have a very laid-back feel to them.
The story is a very interesting one though at times I had to ask myself "who is this character?... what does he mean by that?..." Camilleri seems to write in a casual manner with almost throwaway lines, conversations... almost like you're sometimes catching bits of conversations at the bar or the cafe or in the street. And Montalbano is a bit like that with his detective work. He's piecing it all up in small bits and bats... casually, smoothly.
I think I'm going to like these books...