- This edition an e-book on Kindle
- Publisher : Bitter Lemon Press (February 9, 2016)
- Miranda France (Translator)
- Paperback : 410 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1908524553
- ISBN-13 : 978-1908524553
Synopsis (publisher)
The fourth novel from Claudia Piñeiro, South America's best-selling crime novelist.
When a renowned Buenos Aires industrialist is found dead at his home in an exclusive gated community called La Maravillosa, the novelist Nurit Iscar (once nicknamed Betty Boo owing to a resemblance to the cartoon character Betty Boop) is contracted by a former lover, the editor of a national newspaper, to cover the story. Nurit teams up with the paper's veteran, but now demoted, crime reporter. Soon they realize that they are falling in love, which complicates matters deliciously.
The murder is no random crime but one in a series that goes to the heart of the establishment. Five members of the Argentine industrial and political elite, who all went to the same boarding-school, have died in apparently innocent circumstances. The Maravillosa murder is just the last in the series and those in power in Argentina are not about to allow all this brought to light. Too much is at stake.
My Take
This novel comes as a reminder of how much translated crime fiction has fallen off my radar in recent years, and also what a different flavour this author in particular brings.
The Crime writer of the national newspaper covering this murder in a gated community is a fairly new appointment, inexperienced, and is referred to as Crime Boy. His editor decides to provide a different slant to the case by installing a novelist, a former lover, in the gated community, to write a series of articles about the life that the murder victim was leading. These articles will be published simultaneously with whatever Crime Boy can provide. The victim's wife had been murdered in the same house three years earlier, but apart from the way she was murdered, was there any connection?
In addition the newspaper is still employing its former crime writer, on what he regards as fairly useless tasks, and he decides, against his better judgement, that Crime Boy needs tutelage. Between them, with Betty Boo, the three of them make a formidable team.
A most enjoyable read.
My rating: 4.6
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