A Window in Copacabana: An Inspector Espinosa Mystery (Inspector Espinosa Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza (Author)

Book Description

Series: Inspector Espinosa Mysteries | Publication Date: December 23, 2004

A ruthless group of corrupt cops is playing a lethal game of cat and mouse in the latest installment in the seductive bestselling Brazilian crime series

Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro. Three policemen have been killed over the course of a few days. They were mediocre cops, and their deaths have a lot in common: they were eliminated by a cold-blooded assassin, who leaves no trace and likes to fire at point-blank range.

Immediately the police world is thrown into turmoil. Who would risk running around the city killing cops, even unpopular ones? People involved in drug trafficking? Other policemen? Espinosa, chief of the 12th Precinct, doesn't have much to go on. And when the body of a woman connected to one of the dead cops is found on the sidewalk below her apartment window, things get even more complicated, as a reputed "witness"-the wife of a high-ranking government official--becomes obsessed with the case, and with Espinosa.

Nothing is quite as it first appears as Espinosa finds himself in his old haunts of Leme and Copacabana, and in the all-too-familiar murky terrain of corruption, secret lives, greed, and fear.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Cop killings never fail to excite interest--especially when, as in A Window in Copacabana, Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza's fourth slow-burning police procedural (after Southwesterly Wind), those murders are committed methodically and surgically, with "no passion, revenge, emotion: cold as ice." As Espinosa, the uncommonly thoughtful chief of Rio de Janeiro's 12th Precinct, postulates, "Whoever killed them was hired by someone. And furthermore, the real criminal is trying to send a message to other potential victims, a message that only they can understand."

It hardly matters that the three deceased officers weren't popular, or even well known. ("They're all cops who never stood out, who lived hidden lives, and who were as invisible and silent as their deaths.") The fact that each succumbed to "a single point-blank shot," coupled with suspicions that their slayings were somehow connected--by drug dealing, perhaps, or a bribery scheme--makes capturing their assassin crucial, not only to civic peacekeeping but to departmental morale. The stakes increase when those cops' mistresses start dropping violently, as well. Someone, it appears, wants to keep a tight lid on information that was shared between the policemen and their paramours. But who? And what, if anything, can be concluded from the subsequent, supposed suicide leap of a woman who was evidently mistaken by the killer for one of the cops' lovers? As Espinosa wades into the morass of avarice and secrecy at the core of this case, and begins to shed his preconceptions about the crimes, he's also distracted by a pair of young lovelies--one, the wife of a high-ranking government economist, obsessed with that dubious suicide; the other, a smart and resourceful ex-cabaret dancer on the run--whose attentions may do as much to foil his investigation as warm his heart.

Brazilian Garcia-Roza is a patient plotter, exposing each new development with the deceptive indifference of an exotic dancer shedding veils, knowing just how to build and maintain anticipation. And in Espinosa he has found his ideal partner in crime, a clever, compassionate, and oddly bookish, 40-something cop reconciled to the manifold disappointments of life and serene in the face of human tragedy. Although this author denies his cops, other than Espinosa, much depth of personality, A Window in Copacabana's Hitchcockian twists, sensual atmosphere, and unwillingness to deliver clichéd "perfect" justice in the end all make it an excellent entry in one of the coolest, most captivating crime series going. --J. Kingston Pierce

From Publishers Weekly

When three cops are found shot in the head in separate incidents in Garcia-Roza's sultry fourth Brazilian noir (after 2004's Southwesterly Wind), the chief of Rio's 12th precinct, Inspector Espinosa, suspects a single gunman. There are no witnesses, but from her dressing room window, Serena, a government official's elegant wife, sees a purse flung from a window across the street, soon followed by a woman who falls 10 stories to her death. The apparent suicide victim is identified as Celeste, the mistress of one of the murdered policemen. Obsessed with the dead woman, and having money and time, Serena rents Celeste's apartment in an effort to figure out why the tragedy occurred. Meanwhile, Espinosa sets up a special confidential task force reporting to him alone to investigate the crimes. The task force points to corruption in the police department and a coverup, since the three cops all led double lives, but what was at stake? For the mordantly witty, book-loving Espinosa, integrity is paramount. If his involvement leads to inevitable loss, he has the consolation of another job well done. Fans of sophisticated crime fiction with an exotic locale are in for a treat.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.; 1st edition (December 23, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805074384
• ISBN-13: 978-0805074383
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,891,625 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Murder in the Tropics, April 19, 2005

By 

Debra Hamel (North Haven, CT) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Window in Copacabana: An Inspector Espinosa Mystery (Inspector Espinosa Mysteries) (Hardcover)

The three policemen found shot to death execution-style over the course of a few hot summer days in Rio de Janeiro had more in common than the circumstances of their deaths. Each of the men, importantly, had had sufficient cash to support a mistress and keep a separate apartment intended for their assignations--a sure sign that the officers had been on the take. Investigating their deaths and the corruption that may have led to the murders is the unhappy task of Detective Espinosa, chief of Rio's 12th district, a somewhat melancholy character who tries vainly to combat the encroaching boredom of his increasingly routine work by walking to and from his apartment by different routes.

Given its challenges, Espinosa's latest case provides at least a temporary respite from tedium, particularly when the mistresses of the dead policemen prove to be in peril themselves. Two of the three women are murdered at once, and Espinosa undertakes to protect the third. One woman's death--she falls from a tenth-floor window--is witnessed by a neighbor watching from her apartment across the street, a happenstance which provides the police with one of their few clues and gives author Garcia-Roza his book's title.

A Window in Copacabana, translated into English from the original Portuguese, is the fourth book in Garcia-Roza's Detective Espinosa series. The peculiar circumstances of the murders under investigation and the surprising identity of the killer make the novel a good mystery. But what sets the book apart is the mood it sets--the languid air of a city in the tropics--and the philosophical, bibliophilic Espinosa, whose character emerges slowly, without fanfare, as the story progresses. Mystery readers, and anyone enticed by a Copacabana setting, should give the series a look.

Reviewed by Debra Hamel, author of Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan's Scandalous Life in Ancient Greece

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Mystery, March 10, 2005

By 

Anonymous (Maryland) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: A Window in Copacabana: An Inspector Espinosa Mystery (Inspector Espinosa Mysteries) (Hardcover)

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel. It has all the components one wants in a mystery: interesting and well developed characters, exotic setting, and a plot that is a surprise without any contrivance or lack of credibility. The narrative is very well written and involves both suspense and crime detection. It also delves into personal relationships and soul searching. Overall it's an excellent mystery.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A police crime story, Brazilian style, March 27, 2008

By 

Judy K. Polhemus "Book Collector" (Louisiana) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Window in Copacabana: An Inspector Espinosa Mystery (Inspector Espinosa Mysteries) (Paperback)

"A Window in Copacabana" is unlike any other police crime story; Inspector Espinosa is unlike other chiefs of precincts. The story is set in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

How this novel differs from others is its shocking absence of description. I have often heard readers say that they didn't complete certain books because of too much description or others say they skip it. On the other hand, I love description because it takes me into another place or another time. Without it, this novel could have been set in my city, except for the beach and the neighborhood names--Copacabana being the notable one. When Espinosa walks down the streets, I can picture certain streets in my city that have ethnic flair. This lack of description is certainly not a deleterious factor, but it is an odd one.

Written by "distinguished academic" Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza, the novel indeed reflects the academic mind in its studied logic and understated contemplative thinking demonstrated by Espinosa. In fact, the critic from Amazon likened Garcia-Roza's style to Hitchcock in the use of that subtle yet maddening building of suspense. The danger just oozes out from the pages, yet we never see it. The story ends with the guilty person evading punishment--for now. For we know Insp. Espinosa is on the case.

The story revolves around the murder, execution-style, of three ordinary, unobtrusive police officers, followed by the murder of two of their three mistresses. The third eludes murder by hiding and seeking Espinosa's help. (Perhaps the acquisition of mistresses with no one, not even the wives, blinking is a characteristic of Brazilian culture. This does not seem to be common in my city!)

Then the title character adds a new element to the investigation: she saw one of the mistresses being thrown out of her tenth floor apartment, which is just across the way from her tenth floor apartment. She also adds an element to Espinosa's life--she seduces him. Again, it is presented so matter of fact. To my surprise, all three women in the story kiss him fully on the mouth as if this is a normal greeting. The women include his longstanding lover with neither interested in marriage, Serena, the title character who witnesses this key murder from her window in the Copacabana neighborhood, and the last mistress, who tries to elude the assassin.

When I finished the book, I wasn't sure whether or not I would recommend it, but after writing this review, I see just how interesting the novel is and how it does reflect another culture and a police chief's way of solving a crime. It also shows, apparently, a different attitude toward capture of a criminal, especially one who killed police officers: all in due time. For those who find description an impediment to the forward progress of a crime story, this book was written for you.

Note: The book jacket shown above differs from mine, which depicts inside the window of the title and looking across the beach to that hill. The picture on my copy is much more subtle and effective.