The Silence of the Rain: An Inspector Espinosa Mystery [Paperback]

Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza (Author)

Book Description

Series: Inspector Espinoza Mysteries | Publication Date: July 1, 2003

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, his wallet and briefcase missing. Inspector Espinosa is called in to investigate the apparent robbery and murder, but the world-weary Espinosa knows that things are not always as they seem. Carvalho’s recently acquired one-million-dollar life insurance policy and the subsequent disappearance of his secretary Rose complicate matters—as does Espinosa’s attraction to Carvalho’s beautiful widow, one of the suspects. And when two more people turn up dead, Espinosa must speed up his investigation before anyone else becomes a casualty.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this unusual, deadpan thriller, the first of a trilogy by a bestselling Brazilian writer, Inspector Espinosa of the Rio de Janeiro police department, a jaded intellectual who'd rather visit a used bookstore than a crime scene, must catch the murderer of Ricardo Carvalho, a corporate executive found shot to death in a parking garage, his briefcase and wallet missing. Was it a robbery gone wrong or was someone involved in Carvalho's business or personal life out to get him? Thus begins a novel with an intriguing, circuitous plot and mysterious, expertly shaped characters, who are always one step ahead of Espinosa. Garcia-Roza shifts tense and voice, showing the reader what really happened everything except the person manipulating the story, whose identity remains a secret until the surprise ending. Espinosa, a solitary divorc‚, is attracted to two women in the case: Bia, Carvalho's beautiful, indifferent widow, the beneficiary of a $1 million life insurance policy; and Alba, the robust, sexy girlfriend of a man also interested in Bia. A third woman, Rose, Carvalho's loyal secretary and sometimes mistress who claims to have important information, vanishes. When two more people linked to the investigation meet gruesome deaths, Espinosa knows that the elusive Rose is the link to all the crimes and intensifies the search for her. The sultry Rio setting, whose exotic neighborhoods add definition to the action, and a most unorthodox detective should appeal to police procedural fans with a taste for the offbeat.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Inspector Espinosa investigates the supposed murder of a Rio de Janeiro businessman who was shot to death in his own car. However imaginative, Espinosa nevertheless fails to consider suicide because the victim's money and gun are missing. How this came to pass constitutes the bulk of a fanciful and complicated cat-and-mouse plot involving a high-dollar insurance policy, a beautiful widow, an opportunistic thief, an adventurous-but-disappearing secretary, and actual murder. A heady and somewhat exotic mixture of psychological suspense and police procedure, this was a Brazilian best seller. It will appeal to readers who enjoy sophisticated international mysteries. [Holt plans to publish the other novels in Garcia-Rosa's crime trilogy. - Ed.]
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Picador (July 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312421184
• ISBN-13: 978-0312421182
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #875,417 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Promising Start to a Rio Trilogy, October 12, 2002

By 

A. Ross (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Silence of the Rain: A Novel (Hardcover)

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.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Let's have more of Espinosa! Women should love him!, November 9, 2004

By 

Ladyce West "Ladyce West" (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Silence of the Rain: An Inspector Espinosa Mystery (Paperback)

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!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars What Silence? What Rain?, September 1, 2007

By 

C. H. Trippe (Durham, NC United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Silence of the Rain (Paperback)

Initially, I was intrigued by the poetic title of this novel by Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza: "The Silence of the Rain."
It began quite promisingly, but by the second "book",things had already begun to slow down. The switching from third person to first person narrative and back seemed more a whim than a solid structural device, and I found it baffling. (Who IS telling this story?) Also, while I like cerebral detectives, Espinosa, once he begins talking, even if it's only to himself, never shuts up, and his conjectural scenarios and other ramblings slow the plot. Worse, he doesn't really solve anything. And still worse: if we are ever given the hint of believeable motive for any of the deeds committed, this reader missed it. Because the characters never became "real," their actions didn't make sense. There were simply too many "whys" left unanswered. Because if you don't have character development in a mystery, you don't have answers.
As for the ending--it accomplished nothing except to make the entire story seem like a bad joke--the author having one off on the reader. In that respect, the "poetic" title was also a cheat.