The Beggar's Opera
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3.7 • 6 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
The first volume in the atmospheric and suspenseful Inspector Ramirez series In beautiful, crumbling Old Havana, Canadian detective Mike Ellis hopes the sun and sand will help save his troubled marriage. He doesn’t yet know that it’s dead in the water—much like the little Cuban boy last seen begging the Canadian couple for a few pesos on the world famous Malecon. For Inspector Ricardo Ramirez, head of the Major Crimes Unit of the Cuban National Revolutionary Police, finding his prime suspect isn’t a problem—Cuban law is. He has only seventy-two hours to secure an indictment and prevent a vicious killer from leaving the island. But Ramirez also has his own troubles to worry about. He’s dying of the same dementia that killed his grandmother, an incurable disease that makes him see the ghosts of victims of unsolved murders. As he races against time, the dead haunt his every step...
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Decaying but beautiful Havana provides the atmospheric backdrop for Blair's absorbing debut, the first in a series introducing Ricardo Ramirez, "the inspector in charge of the Havana Major Crime Unit of the Cuban National Revolutionary Police." When a boy is brutally raped and murdered, suspicion falls on a visiting Canadian policeman, Det. Mike Ellis. The ailing Fidel Castro wants to send a strong message that Cuba doesn't tolerate sex crimes, and a provision in Cuban criminal law that gives the police just 72 hours to secure an indictment ensures a fast pace. Nothing, however, is quite as simple as it should be: Ellis has a cloud hanging over him from a past shoot-out; he has forgotten much of the crucial evening; and Ramirez himself either has supernatural powers or is rapidly succumbing to dementia. Meanwhile, communism and ancient belief in spirits coexist in a Cuba where tourists are as likely to encounter requests for soap and pencils as requests for money.
