Alone in the Crowd - Inspector Espinosa Mysteries by Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza Paperback

Book Synopsis

A HOUSTON CHRONICLE SUMMER READING PICK

A Rio de Janeiro Thriller

An elderly lady approaches the front desk at the Twelfth Precinct in Copacabana and demands to speak with the chief. Tired after a long day, she leaves without further explanation, promising to return. Two hours later, Doña Laureta is dead, and witnesses' accounts vary as to whether she was pushed or fell in front of the bus that killed her on one of the busiest avenues in the city.

Veteran police chief inspector Espinosa quickly pinpoints a suspect in Hugo Breno, an unassuming bank teller whose solitary existence takes on a sinister cast as he shadows the inspector's movements across the city. Meanwhile Espinosa discovers an unsettling connection from the past between himself and Breno and must turn his trademark psychological inquiry inward to determine how murky memories of a murder from long ago might play into Doña Laureta's untimely passing. Chilling and ultimately heart-stopping, Alone in the Crowd presents Espinosa as we have never seen him before, the man of detached expertise and calm self-assurance entangled in a mystery where reason alone will not suffice.

Review Quotes

"Psychologically complex sleuthing . . . every woman Espinosa encounters is as gorgeous as the Girl from Ipanema." --The Toronto Star

"A sophisticated, almost existential puzzle . . . Chief Espinosa in a case that goes back to his own childhood." --The Denver Post

"You shouldn't miss this book . . . Read this and be reminded that some of the finest fiction comes from Latin America, and that no less a luminary than Argentine Jorge Luis Borges started his career with elegantly crafted mystery stories. We can see his shadow in the sure styling and beautifully constructed plot in Alone in the Crowd." --The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

"Sets the bar very high . . . Espinosa is a hard-boiled fan's delight, brooding, boozing, reading Melville, admiring beautiful women, and slowly, pessimistically managing to solve crimes." --Booklist on the Inspector Espinosa series

About the Author

Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza is a bestselling novelist who lives in Rio de Janeiro. His Inspector Espinosa mysteries--The Silence of the Rain, December Heat, Southwesterly Wind, A Window in Copacabana, Pursuit, and Blackout--have been translated into six languages and are available in paperback from Picador.