The Silence of the Rain: An Inspector Espinosa Mystery

by Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza

Book Overview

A Brazilian bestseller, this sophisticated story of murder, sex, and corruption introduces a riveting new crime series. In a parking garage in the center of Rio de Janeiro, corporate executive Ricardo Carvalho is found dead in his car, a bullet in his head. It appears that he has been robbed and murdered. But the clues are few. The gun and his briefcase are nowhere to be found - just the kind of case that is always assigned to Inspector Espinosa...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805068899
• ISBN13: 9780805068894
• Release Date: July 2002
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.9" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Mystery in Rio

I just finished the first book of the Inspector Espinosa series - there is now four books in the collection. (Note: the second book in the series is now called "December Heat" instead of the original "Lost and Found".) The story takes place in Rio de Janeiro and gives a vivid portrait of the city, architecture, food and culture. Inspector Espinosa is a wonderful, philisophical character who likes to browse used book stores. We see him at home several times, trying to arrange his massive collection of books (How many of us can relate to that!!). "He spent the rest of the afternoon dealing with his books at home or at least trying to make it look as if he'd tried. After an hour, he realized he was just shifting piles. Rearranging the chaos." Anyhow, the mystery is compelling and interesting - especially with the occasional musings of Inspector Espinosa - who contemplates the single life, other peoples lives, and how a murder could have happened. I highly recommend this book - and also a must read if you are on a plane to Rio!

Let's have more of Espinosa! Women should love him!

I truly enjoyed this book. It is fast paced, it is exotic in location and it has an intelligent cop. But even more astounding it only has smart women characters. There is not a single blond bimbo, prostitute or a lowlife female character, of dubious virtues. ALL of the women have professions, know what they want, and SURPRISE! they think! Not one needs the protection of our tough cop! This is so refreshing! It makes me want to read more of Espinosa. The book is a standard mystery. There is no need to try to find here the answer to your philosophical questions. Look for other styles for that. But it is a truly enjoyable one afternoon or two, depending on your time book, an uncompromising weekend read!

A very good off-beat detective story

This mystery, in which Espinosa slogs his way through what seems to be a murder and turns out to be a suicide, is a refreshing change from the usual "kick 'em in the belly" type of tough-guy thriller. Espinosa is a loner and a philosopher who loves books and is generally misunderstood by his colleagues. He has a talent for encountering numerous lowlifes, some on the fringes of society. These characters and the contradictions in various clues make a good story, but what I liked best was the little turns of phrase that the author uses to describe the action and characters. He is reminiscent of Raymond Chandler in this respect, and, also like Chandler, evokes a time and place. We look forward to others by this author.

Promising Start to a Rio Trilogy

Popular Brazilian author Garcia-Roza wrote a trilogy of crime novels in the latter part of the '90s, and this is the first of them to appear in English. Unlike another Brazilian crime novel of that time, Patricia Melo's "The Killer", this book doesn't take a hard-boiled approach, but is a carefully crafted procedural. With plenty of social commentary mixed in, the book reads somewhat like one of Mario Vargas Llosa's crime fictions such as "Who Killed Palamino Molero" or "The Green House".The novel starts by presenting the suicide of a rich executive in Rio de Janerio, and in Hitchcockian fashion allows the reader to know a great deal more than the hero for most of the book. That hero is a rather nebbish Detective Inspector, who for most of the book treats the case as a murder since someone made off with the gun used in the suicide, the note, and more. As in much noir, several smalltime people get accidentally mixed up in the matter and further deaths ensue, making it all rather confusing for the Inspector. He's a likable loner, a kindred spirit of John Harvey's Nottingham Inspector Charlie Resnick, or Sicilian Inspector Montalbano of Andrea Camilleri's series ("The Shape of Water").There are some rather curious aspects to the story, for example, despite Rio's notorious murder rate, this homicide Detective mostly adheres to strict 9-5, Monday-Friday hours, working only a single case at a time. And in the book's sole instance of awkward author contrivance, his network of informers just happens to have information on a key gun sale-this in a city where guns change hands like pocket change. The setting is fairly interesting, rain-slicked white middle-class Rio neighborhoods which are very cosmopolitan and European (I'm not sure why other reviewers insist on using the word "sultry" to describe the setting). Rio's favelas (shantytowns) are only seen in the distance.It's always a treat to read crime fiction from other countries, and this is no exception. Garcia-Roza's trilogy kicks off with an intriguing plot, a likable hero, and great promise.

Brazilian Thriller

The Silence of the Rain by Luiz Alfredo Garcia Roza. Henry Holt and Company, New York:2002. Translated by Henry Moser. An introverted, bookish cop, Inspector Espinosa, investigates the murder of a rich executive in Rio De Janiero. The murder weapon is not found, and the possible suspects do not have clear motives for killing the victim. Eventually, there are other murders related to the original crime and the life of the Inspector is endangered. At a whirlwind pace, Inspector Espinosa tries to solve the case and apprehend the elusive murderer. The Brazilian setting, enhanced by a solitary cop whose main hobby is collecting books, makes an enjoyable read. The author is a distinguished academic and best selling novelist who lives in Rio De Janiero. Henry Holt and Company will publish the other books in his crime trilogy, Lost and Found and Southwesterly Winds. ...