El cielo llora por mi

July 1, 2009
El cielo llora por mi. (The Heavens Weep for Me) Ramirez, Sergio. Mexico/U.S.: Alfaguara: Santillana. 2009. 296p. ISBN 978-607-11-0043-6. pap. $22.99. SUSPENSE STARA prominent Nicaraguan intellectual who served as vice president of Nicaragua under Daniel Ortega following the 1979 Sandinista revolution, Ramirez won the Alfaguara International Prize in 1998 for Margarita, esta linda la mar (Margarita, How Beautiful the Sea) and the International Dashiell Hammett Prize for Castigo divino ("Divine Punishment"; Alfaguara, 1970). His latest novel helps establish the Nicaraguan detective story as a new subgenre. The mystery begins with an abandoned yacht off the coast of Laguna de Perlas containing a bloodstained t-shirt and the business card of a missing woman hidden in a book. Narcotics Inspector Dolores Morales and his Watson, Deputy Inspector Bert Dixon, have a long history of partnership-and clever banter-beginning with their time as guerrillas in the Sandinista revolution. Managua has since become a hotbed of corruption, drug trafficking, and murder in which they try to uphold their ideals, with all the requisite irony and hardboiled cynicism. The narcotics department's cleaning lady, die-hard revolutionary dona Sofia, provides an interesting counterpoint, adding humor and playing an unexpected role in solving the mystery. Written in the classic detective style, this novel adds the fresh dynamic of Nicaraguan politics to the tried and true genre. Recommended for public libraries and bookstores.-Salwa Jabado, New York City

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.