Espinosa, the book worm police chief in Rio de Janeiro has a problem. An elderly woman in his district was struck dead by a bus. Despite this happening in a crowd of people, no one can say for sure what really happened. Had she been pushed or not? She could have slipped off the curb and fallen into the path of the bus. Given her age this was the likely scenario. Dozens of witnesses and no one saw a thing. Ordinarily, a police chief with dozens of other more pressing cases would call this an accident and move on, but Espinosa can't for some reason. This same elderly woman tried to visit him earlier in the day. She had something to say to him and him alone. That one detail has Chief Inspector Espinosa thinking and the more he thinks the more his past haunts him. ( )

Good, but not quite as good as the earlier ones - the story seemed a little bit muddled ( )

7th in the Chief Espinosa of the 12th Precinct in Rio de Janeiro series.

7th in the Chief Espinosa of the 12th Precinct in Rio de Janeiro series.

Garcia-Roza doesn’t just write outstanding police procedurals--most of his books are great psychological thrillers as well; in fact, I’m not aware of any other writer in the genre who combines the two aspects so well and so unusually. This one is no exception. An old woman dies a puzzling death that may or may not be an accident; the chief suspect is somehow vaguely related to other deaths that might or might not have been accidents. All this might or might not be coincidence. And yes, that’s the whole tenor of the book as Espinosa and his chief helpers, Inspector Ramiro and Detective Welber dig deeper and deeper into the past of Hugo Breno, a colorless bank teller. Soon, parts of Espinosa’s past infringe upon the present and he is hard put to tell if any of it is relevant or if he is fabricating a tale out of whole cloth.

Add to that a crisis with his lover of 10 years, and you have the usual intriguing, textured mystery that Garcia-Roza writes so well.

Normally, Rio--specifically the Copacabana and Peixoto districts--contribute quite a bit to the ambience of the novels, but not so much in this book. Although I have visited Brasil many times and have spent a good deal of time there, I have never been to Rio. To compensate for that this time, since so much of the action takes place in the Peixoto district where Espinosa lives, I went to Google maps and followed Espinosa and Breno around; I most likely pinpointed the three-story building where Espinosa lives! That little vicarious jaunt added a good deal to the enjoyment of the read.

An excellent addition to the series. Highly recommended for those who like their police procedurals off the beaten track. ( )