Dope

Dopeby Sara Gran plays out like a classic noir B-movie from the 50’s, all about heroin peddlers and girls gone wrong. Its B-movie status stems from the subject matter and certainly not its depth or fascinating storyline. Dope centers on Josephine, a former junkie and lifelong hustler on the hunt for a missing college girl turned addict. The missing girl’s parents were referred to Joe by a con artist who said the best way to find their daughter was to hire someone familiar with the drug scene. Desperate for cash Joe easily agrees to find the girl and the creep boyfriend she was last seen with, thus beginning this story of multiple deceptions and plot twists. Unfortunately for Joe, giving up junk was just the beginning of a nightmare, throughout this book she is confronted by all the reasons and people she turned to drugs for, and ultimately staying clean doesn’t reap any rewards for her.

The setting and storyline of this book are a nice departure from standard murder plot lines; you don’t read too many relatively serious novels about what it was like to be an addict, and an independent female at that, living in New York City circa 1950. Ms. Gran’s descriptions of the places and people that inhabit this underworld are gritty and realistic; with the 50s being prime time for Leave It To Beaver glimpses of this side of the times stand in stark contrast to the collective memory of that decade. Still Dope keeps a tongue-in-cheek self-consciousness about itself, like the author knows it needs to be hard-boiled and sassy and shouldn’t be taken in complete seriousness, kind of like James Ellroy dialogue. And for the reader, Dope keeps you guessing until the very end, and in general is everything but predictable.

I’m happy to find out about the growing number of female noir and crime fiction authors out there; I’m sure Sara Gran will certainly be at the forefront of this group in the future.

Death of a Nationalist

Having recently read three books that took place in communist countries and described the difficult living conditions in each, I was completely taken aback by life in Post-War Spain, as depicted in the fascinating crime novel Death of a Nationalistset in Madrid circa 1939. Out of all the places I would NOT want to live at any time in history this ranks high up there, the irony being that my grandmother and father grew up in the heart of this trouble. I have always been proud of the fact that I am half-Spanish but now I am truly humbled by that fact, completely respectful of the circumstances that shaped my family’s experience there.

This is not your typical crime fiction novel, it is definitely more of an historical mystery; however, the sordid characters throughout and questionable ethics of the two protagonists plant it firmly in the genre for me. The story revolves around two individuals, one a fascist Guardia Civil named Carlos Tejada Alonso y Leon searching for the person who killed his best friend and the other a communist miliciano in hiding, Gonzalo Llorente, searching for the person who murdered his fiancée, Viviana. Viviana was actually killed by Tejada who assumed she murdered his friend when he found her hovering over his body. If he had asked her the right questions before shooting her he would have discovered that she was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. So Tejada spends the length of the novel unraveling the identity of his friend’s true killer while piecing together the fact that he killed an innocent woman and greatly disturbed the lives of those who loved her. The central plot is a wonderful study of two men who are inadvertently searching for each other, and by political loyalties hate each other, yet ultimately two men who are able to put allegiances aside to atone for their own mistakes.

The book expertly weaves their stories together, alternating chapters to focus on one or the other’s viewpoint while simultaneously moving the story forward. Ms. Pawel did a great job in developing these overlapping stories, so good that I finished it in a few sittings. She also uncovers what a nightmare post-war Spanish life was like: hardly anything to eat, the constant scrutiny and suspicion everyone is under, the mere fact that walking down the street is dangerous, and the simple desire most people have to just survive the day or even a few more hours; I was enthralled. I can’t wait to read her follow-up novel Law Of Return.

Framed

While Framed by Tonino Benacquista doesn’t follow a detective, its protagonist is definitely hard-boiled. Antoine is a victim of a heinous beating in an art gallery who takes it upon himself to avenge the assault, which left him severely maimed and unable to continue his career as a professional pool player. Set in Paris, the mystery unfolds around an unusual painting whose exposure to the public sets off a spree of robbery and murder. Unfortunately Antoine, a picture hanger by day, has the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, thrusting him smack into the middle of a crime he could care less about, stealing art. This is crime fiction at its most satirical, Benacquista describes in detail the frustrations of a young man left unwhole while still seeing the humor in his situation.

The various characters Antoine meets as he prowls the art world are classic design/art snobs and the people who write about them--very funny. I also enjoyed Antoine’s desperate attempts to write his parents to inform them of his accident, and his final plea to his pool hall buddies to believe that he is not a murderer.

While Framed isn’t part of a series, I loved Benacquista’s writing style; it’s funny but gruesome, and equally gritty while describing both the high and low class worlds Antoine inhabits. It’s easy to get right into this book and keep going until you realize you’ve finished it in a matter of hours! Great read!

Havana Black

To be perfectly honest, after reading the first few pages of Havana Black by Leonardo Padura I hoped the main character, Inspector Mario Conde, might drink himself to death so I wouldn't have to suffer through 200 more pages. It probably has the most morose beginning to a novel I have ever read, and not having read the first book in the series, Havana Red, I had no attachment to "The Count" as they call Conde. Not one to give up easily I kept going and once the Count described his new and last case as "tasty" I knew the book was going to be good, but I didn't know it would be that good.

The story begins as the Havana police department has recently cleaned house of its corrupt officers; Conde resigns due to loyalty to his boss, but is asked back to solve one last case before his discharge papers will be signed. The case involves a murdered defector who is found floating in the sea, castrated, and throughout the book the sordid past dealings of the victim are uncovered. The fascinating portrait of a man who took advantage of the government's "re-appropriation" of confiscated property after the Revolution unravels some of the mystery as to how communism was adapted in a Latin American country, a great primer for those who don't know much about communism in Cuba. My hunch as to the killer's identity for once was right but that doesn't mean the mystery was predictable, rather the reader has a chance to form his or her own opinion amongst the suspects and the unexpected plot twists.

The real gem of this novel, however, is the main character, the Count. Mr. Padura shows us how complicated it was to have grown up during the Revolution, how the dreams of young men were shaped and changed by the events that unfolded. The Count longs for old times in some sense but also for a better future where he can rid himself of the demons he has gathered in his 36 years. The passage about his mother and the four kisses they shared each year until she died, and his regret at not having been more affectionate with her was beautiful and sad. I also enjoyed the descriptions of the Count's "family" of friends and their support for each other since boyhood.

The writing style of this book can be difficult at times; there are no chapters to tell you when one thought or scene is ending, and the author sometimes launches into a description of an event or person that lasts a page or two before the reader can fully understand who or what he is describing. But once the cast of characters is set, and the scenes known, everything begins to fall into place and the book is not only worth reading as a mystery, but as a poetic look into complex and humble lives.