Queen of Bones - Libroj.org

Rigidkovrila

Eldonita je 4-a de septembro 2019 de Soho Crime.

ISBN:: 978-1-64129-015-9
Numero OCLC:: 1042097649

(1 recenzo)

Set between Cubas twenty years apart, Havana native Teresa Dovalpage’s new murder mystery explores lingering grudges between old friends and lovers separated by Castro's final sanctioned raft exodus.

Juan, a Cuban construction worker who has settled in Albuquerque, returns to Havana for the first time since fleeing Cuba by raft twenty years ago. He is traveling with his American wife, Sharon, and hopes to reconnect with Victor, his best friend from college—and, unbeknownst to Sharon, he also hopes to discover what has become of two ex-girlfriends, Elsa and Rosita.

Juan is surprised to learn that Victor has become Victoria and runs a popular drag show at the local hot spot Café Arabia. Elsa has married a wealthy foreigner, and Rosita, still single, works at the Havana cemetery. When one of these women turns up dead, it will cost Padrino, a Santería priest and former detective on the Havana police force, …

Set between Cubas twenty years apart, Havana native Teresa Dovalpage’s new murder mystery explores lingering grudges between old friends and lovers separated by Castro's final sanctioned raft exodus.

Juan, a Cuban construction worker who has settled in Albuquerque, returns to Havana for the first time since fleeing Cuba by raft twenty years ago. He is traveling with his American wife, Sharon, and hopes to reconnect with Victor, his best friend from college—and, unbeknownst to Sharon, he also hopes to discover what has become of two ex-girlfriends, Elsa and Rosita.

Juan is surprised to learn that Victor has become Victoria and runs a popular drag show at the local hot spot Café Arabia. Elsa has married a wealthy foreigner, and Rosita, still single, works at the Havana cemetery. When one of these women turns up dead, it will cost Padrino, a Santería priest and former detective on the Havana police force, more than he expects to untangle the group’s lies and hunt down the killer.

1 eldono

Stephanie Jane recenzis Queen of Bones de Teresa Dovalpage

A good crime mystery

4 steloj

I loved returning to Cuba for Queen Of Bones, Teresa Dovalpage's second Havana Mystery. We again have the main protagonist, who finds himself caught up in a murder investigation, being a visitor to the enigmatic island, but this time that man is former refugee, Juan, who fled Cuba twenty years previously on a homemade raft. His bewilderment at the recent changes within Cuban society and culture allowed me, as a reader, to get a good understanding of the phenomenon myself. I imagine it must be just as difficult for lifelong Cubans to cope with rapid commercialisation and shifting attitudes as it was for Juan. Transgender woman Victoria embodies the new open society as she embraces the personal identity which was forbidden to her two decades previously. In contrast, Dovalpage also focuses on the traditional Santeria religion with its blend of African deities and Catholic saints. I appreciated these insights into …

I loved returning to Cuba for Queen Of Bones, Teresa Dovalpage's second Havana Mystery. We again have the main protagonist, who finds himself caught up in a murder investigation, being a visitor to the enigmatic island, but this time that man is former refugee, Juan, who fled Cuba twenty years previously on a homemade raft. His bewilderment at the recent changes within Cuban society and culture allowed me, as a reader, to get a good understanding of the phenomenon myself. I imagine it must be just as difficult for lifelong Cubans to cope with rapid commercialisation and shifting attitudes as it was for Juan. Transgender woman Victoria embodies the new open society as she embraces the personal identity which was forbidden to her two decades previously. In contrast, Dovalpage also focuses on the traditional Santeria religion with its blend of African deities and Catholic saints. I appreciated these insights into the faith as this helped to understand several characters' motivations.

The murder mystery aspect of Queen Of Bones is nicely plotted and I did manage to work out the murderer by about the halfway point. The whys and wherefores eluded me for considerably longer though and I found myself taken in by red herrings along the way. Thank goodness that Santeria priest Padrino isn't so gullible! Padrino's dual profession gives him access to most places and when it doesn't, he's not adverse to simply letting himself in! My only irritation with Queen Of Bones was the character of Juan's wife, Sharon, who was such a sulky wet blanket that I couldn't recognise what I was being told about her from the way she actually behaved. The dichotomy was quite distracting and I wished Juan had followed his initial inclination to leave her back in America for the duration of his visit! Sharon aside though, Queen Of Bones is a vibrant and culturally interesting story which I enjoyed reading just as much as its predecessor.