Global Mystery Challenge; Mystery and Suspense Challenge
I first read an Inspector Espinosa mystery last year, December Heat (second in the series) and I quite enjoyed it. I marked this one at the library and finally got around to requesting it. Reading this out of order doesn't seem to have affected my experience at all.
I quite enjoy Inspector Espinosa. He is a bit of a philosopher, spends his spare time reading and haunting used book stores, his house is a mess and his family has left him. Working in Rio de Janeiro, Espinosa complains about the lack of resources which leads him to solve his crimes by thinking of motives and opportunities for the crime. He's a bit like Poirot - making his theory fit the facts and what he knows about suspect's character.
The first part of the book was in third person, and then jumped from several perspectives, showing what exactly happened in the crime, after the fact, but before Espinosa figures it out. Then the middle section is from Espinosa's narrative as he questions the suspects and thinks. The last section is again third person as the mystery plays out, with a great ending. I liked this changing perspective to see different aspects of the characters and crime, and to get to know Espinosa better. Brazil is a place that I don't imagine I'll ever visit, so spending time in these books is a vicarious vacation in Copacabana and Impanema Beach.
I wish my library had more than these two books, and then the seventh in the series. Who orders books 1, 2 and 7 in a series? That makes no sense at all!
