The Beggar's Opera (Inspector Ramirez Series #1)

by Peggy Blair

Overview

In beautiful, crumbling Old Havana, Canadian detective Mike Ellis hopes the sun and sand will help save his troubled marriage. He doesn’t yet know that it’s dead in the water—much like the little Cuban boy last seen begging the Canadian couple for a few pesos on the world famous Malecon. For Inspector Ricardo Ramirez, head of the Major Crimes Unit of the Cuban National Revolutionary Police, finding his prime suspect isn’t a problem—Cuban law is. He has only seventy-two hours to secure an indictment and prevent a vicious killer from leaving the island. But Ramirez also has his own troubles to worry about. He’s dying of the same dementia that killed his grandmother, an incurable disease that makes him see the ghosts of victims of unsolved murders. As he races against time, the dead haunt his every step …

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780143179979
Publisher:	Penguin Canada
Publication date:	02/07/2012
Series:	L'Afrique qui se bat , #1
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Peggy Blair was a lawyer for more than thirty years. Her critically  acclaimed mystery The Beggar’s Opera won the 2012 Scotiabank  Giller Prize Readers’ Choice contest and was shortlisted for the  Crime Writers Association Debut Dagger Award. The Poisoned Pawn  is the second in the Inspector Ramirez series. Peggy lives in Ottawa.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“[An] impressive debut novel ... [the] book itself unfolds with an artless ease: the investigation and its developments are both compelling and convincing, a genuinely mysterious mystery that manages to both surprise and maintain its internal integrity...The Beggar’s Opera is a well-crafted, genuinely satisfying mystery.”
–The National Post

“Gripping…Passion, corruption, danger: it’s a Cuba-set mystery that satisfyingly delivers all the compelling characteristics of its setting.”
-Andrew Pyper, NTY bestselling author of The Guardians

“An impressive police procedural… Blair keeps the tension high, even as she paints a comprehensive, sensitively detailed picture…”
-Sarah Weinman, in the Quill and Quire

“An impressive debut…compelling and convincing… The Beggar’s Opera is a well-crafted, genuinely satisfying mystery that bodes well for future novels featuring Ricardo Ramirez.”
-The National Post

“A fast-paced, well-plotted mystery.”
-Vancouver Sun

“Blair’s Havana is a steamy, twisted locale and her Inspector Ramirez is just the kind of dogged detective you want to root for.”
-Robert Rotenburg, author of Old City Hall and The Guilty Plea

“A riveting story that kept me reading late into the night. Peggy Blair combines masterful writing with a clever plot and an unforgettable journey into the dark heart of Havana.”
-D.J. McIntosh, author of the bestseller The Witch of Babylon

“I have a penchant for smart, dark, literary crime fiction, and The Beggar’s Opera is all of that: an excellent book.”
-Alan Guthrie, author of Two-Way Split

Editorial Reviews

I have a penchant for smart, dark, literary crime fiction, and The Beggar's Opera is all of that: an excellent book. - Allan Guthrie, author of Two Way Split

From the Publisher

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.). (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly