The Beggar's Opera

January 21, 2013
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. Agent: Anne McDermid, Anne McDermid & Associates (Can.).

Starred review from March 15, 2013
Not only does Canadian Blair's exciting new series take place in contemporary Havanaa slam dunk of a setting for crime fictionbut it also boasts an unusual and unusually intriguing premise: Inspector Ricardo Ramirez, head of Havana's Major Crimes Unit, sees dead bodies, the ghosts of the victims of his unsolved cases. But this isn't another paranormal wrinkle in a realistic crime series (like Charles Todd's Inspector Rutledge novels); no, Ramirez may have inherited something called Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), in which the victim suffers from vivid hallucinations. But he hardly has time to worry about his dead companions at the moment, as a Canadian policeman, Mike Ellis, is being held on suspicion of the rape and murder of a young Cuban boy, and the police have 72 hours to formally charge or release him. Meanwhile, a Canadian lawyer, Celia Jones, arrives to help Ellis negotiate the formidable Cuban bureaucracy. Each of the three major characters could hold up a crime novel on his or her own, and Blair interweaves their stories beautifully; she also invests Havana geography (with its decaying buildings and rusting American cars) with new vigor by focusing not only on photo-worthy street scenes but also on the complex lives of the people who live inside the broken buildings. A fine novel and the launch of what looks to be a superb series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)