Book Review: Tequila Blue

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Tequila Blue     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Rolo Diez
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Police Procedural
Bitter Lemon Press, Jan 2005, $13.95, 186 pages

Mexico City Police Detective Carlos “Carlito” Hernandez needs cash quick to shut up his nagging wife Lourdes who points out that they have not paid the school fees for their children. He has avoided his mistress Gloria for four days because he has no money to help her and her family; besides which she behaves like a Lourdes’ clone. Finally at the office, the chief’s secretary Maribel demands the office contribution while enjoying asides with Carlito though she detests having the room bill dumped on her. To maintain his two families’ lifestyle and continue his law enforcement career, Carlito supplements his income selling Columbian for the Police Chief, laundering money and vending arms.

Carlito goes to the Malibu Hotel to investigate the homicide of an American Jones. The hotel clerk says a blond woman went upstairs with Jones, but later a blond man paid the room bill while the victim’s Columbian wife acts the soap opera version of the grieving widow. Though pressed to drop the inquiries, Carlito ignores political pressure and danger from gangs to dig deeper into a seedy underbelly that makes his side activities so Disney-like innocent (just ask Snow White).

This is a terrific Mexican police procedural starring a wonderful protagonist whose personal lives interfere with his professional life. Rolo Diez (ably translated from the Spanish by Nick Caistor) satirically bushwhacks the value venders through his hero, who works the system with capitalist deals to make ends meet in his varying social spheres. The cleverly designed who-done-it and several sidebars bring a perspective of Mexico that the tourist bureau would want hidden from view as Carlito follows the clues while earning a living anyway he can.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner