Coup de chaud à La Havane

What a soap opera," says lawyer Tommy McDonald when, near the end of this story, he hears Miami PI Lupe Solano explain why the police should release jeweler Alonso Arango Sr., Tommy's client, who is being held for the shooting death of Gustavo Gaston. Tommy's assessment is generous-soap opera fans take more interest in characters and their doings than can be mustered for the folks here. Arango claims self-defense, saying Gaston attacked him with a knife which, oddly, vanished from the crime scene. Lupe cares about this only because her friend Margarita Vidal intimated that she had intriguing information on Arango-and died in a car accident before revealing it. Since Margarita was even dearer than a really good manicure (and that's dear indeed), Lupe, the quintessential Cuban-American princess, tries to sift the truth from the misinformation and outright lies supplied by Arango's obnoxious relatives and loyal employees. Lupe's concern escalates when she realizes that her Mercedes is being professionally tailed-and when the missing knife shows up embedded in another member of the Arango circle. Garcia-Aguilera creates momentum more from the quantity of suspects than from their quality. Worse, Lupe, who debuted encouragingly in Bloody Waters, rather than evolving into a complex character, is morphing into a banal admirer of luxury consumer goods. Mystery Guild alternate. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This first novelist incorporates standard mystery formula with great success by adding her own subtle twists. Young private investigator Lupe Solano, who belongs to a wealthy, Miami-based Cuban-American family, struggles to locate the birth mother of an illegally adopted baby who needs a transplant. But before her search yields any answers, a murder occurs. Fans of Edna Buchanan should enjoy this adventurous, refreshing, and alternative view of Miami.Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Miami private investigator Lupe Solano's new case goes back 40 years--to the evening before Castro captured Havana, when Luis Delgado's father and Miguel de la Torre decided to liquidate their holdings and leave Cuba. The de la Torres escaped, but Luis"family did not. Luis eventually left Cuba by raft and is now trying to reclaim the family share of the money from the de la Torres, who have become among the most prominent of Miami families. After he is nearly murdered, Luis uses a diamond his parents gave him to hire Lupe and attorney Tommy McDonald, Lupe's occasional boyfriend, to recover the money. This third Lupe Solano novel is uneven but not without interest. The dialogue is lively; the intriguing and amusing characters are well developed; and Garcia-Aguilera does a good job of educating readers about recent Cuban history. Unfortunately, the mystery element is weak, a flaw throughout the series. Still, Lupe is unique among Miami sleuths, and as a whole, the series" strengths outweigh its weaknesses. John Rowen

Résumé : " Quoi de plus difficile pour un auteur de polars que d'inventer un personnage de détective digne de succéder à la longue liste des enquêteurs charismatiques du roman noir ? Après les alcoolos, les flics véreux et autres junkies, voilà que débarque une bitch detective. Lupe Solano est cubaine, roule en Mercedes, s'habille chez Armani et se décore chez Cartier. Mais derrière le clinquant se cache une rebelle avide de justice. A la Solano Investigations (son agence), on cultive une certaine philosophie de l'enquête, arrosée à la veuve-clicquot. Dans une ambiance new-ageuse plutôt rigolote, qui n'empêche pas la très chaude Lupe d'enquêter avec efficacité. Une série à suivre. " Laure Tran, Max