December Heat

The first Inspector Espinosa mystery I read, I think. Espinosa investigates in Rio de Janeiro, in the many neighborhoods but mostly, it seems, Copacabana. The author captures the lyrical quality of Brazilian life in this city and beyond.

A prostitute winds up dead. An ex-policeman was last seen with her and can't remember much of the night before. Investigating is Inspector Espinosa, who doesn't choose to accept the obvious solution. He knew the ex-cop and can't connect him with this kind of violence.

When other bodies show up, notably that of a homeless boy, Espinosa starts to make some connections, and seeks out another homeless boy, who may have the answer.

An excellent procedural mystery with plenty to wonder about and much to enjoy in show more the evocation of the various scenes. show less

A retired policeman's prostitute girlfriend is found murdered and Inspector Espinosa teams up with the former cop to find the killer, but when a misunderstanding causes the mob to suspect they are drug-dealers, they have to perform their investigation and fight off a hit-man at the same time. This is the second Espinosa novel I read but I think this is it for me, even though I like Espinosa himself quite a lot. This one has a lot of great descriptions of street life in Rio de Janeiro, which I enjoyed immensely, but the mystery itself is meandering and confusing and the resolutions are not satisfying at all - the solution to the first murder is even annoying. Also, if someone can tell me how that elevator scene actually worked, that'd be show more great. Unless the elevator was the size of a football field, how can two people be fighting on the floor without bumping into Espinosa, other than occasionally brushing his leg, and how can he not quite easily help out - there are three pages of him standing in the corner watching the elevator numbers tick up... show less

This was my first Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza Inspector Espinosa book, and I did not find it particularly good. The whole story was a series of random, seemingly unrelated events brought about by another series of random, seemingly unrelated events.

The book generally goes on in a normalish meandering tone, but then every now and again devolves into this weird prose that I don't really get, I don't understand the content nor how it fits in with the overall writing.

Here is an example:

"Espinosa couldn't say what it was about Flor that made him so uncomfortable and so intrigued, in the same proportion and intensity; he couldn't even claim that though she was a hooker she had an infantile ingenuousness, or that she was smart enough to transform show more her sexual sophistication into innocent artlessness. She wasn't extraordinarily beautiful, but her beauty did turn the heads of men and women, perhaps because it wasn't created only from the usual elements of beauty. In her beauty there was something demonic. The result was more alchemical than aesthetic, and its effect was uncommon. Flor disquieted and attracted him, not only sexually, though sex was the way her fascinating alchemy expressed itself. But Flor presented herself not as an answer to his desires but as a question posed to him, inviting him somewhere he could never really identify, modest but shameless, like a girl in a dirty magazine."

James Joyce got away with writing a lot of gibberish, but I don't think it works with Inspector Espinosa.

After several days I had to look back at the cover to see that this was an Inspector Espinosa story because I honestly couldn't remember. Not a lot of the story was making a whole lot of sense, just a bunch of random actions.

Otherwise, it is written in the vein of the killer or killers getting away because of the stupidity of the people who know who the killer or killers are. You know, like they're talking to the detective or journalist or whomever sleuth on the phone and start to say... "the killer is... wait, there is someone at the door, hold on a minute... BANG! they're dead"... and now the story can go on for hundreds more pages because the person or persons who always have all the information couldn't speak for another 5 milliseconds and solve the case / mystery / whatever. This book was a lot like that, but then, somehow, Espinosa miraculously fits it all together. Except at the end nothing is really resolved. In theory the person who started the series of random, seemingly unrelated events is found out and punished, and in theory the person who was hired to perpetuate the series of random, seemingly unrelated events is found and punished, but the why behind all that is cloudy at best. The ending is even more of a mystery.

There is nothing to really recommend this book. Set in Rio de Janeiro I thought this book had a lot more potential, might be a lot more interesting, but the story, characters, and backdrop didn't grab me at all.

And Espinosa, is he likable or do you just want to punch him in the face? One of the last descriptors is this sentence: "Though he knew that people thought of him as a cold rationalist, he recognized that in fact he was more a semidelirious fantasist."

Huh? show less

Detective story, located in Rio de Janeiro. Quite different from other approaches to the genre. The author shows how life is like for the street children in the city.