Book Review: A Window in Copacabana

Reviewed By: Gina Metz - RAM

A Window in Copacabana     Amazon US TPB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada TPB Amazon Canada HC
Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Noir   Police Procedural
Series: Inspector Espinosa # 4
Henry Holt & Company LLC; 2001; 243 pps.

A Window in Copacabana is part of the Inspector Espinosa series. Espinosa is the Chief of police at the 12th precinct in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro. The story begins with the murder of three policemen in fairly public venues. The policemen are mediocre cops however they have a good deal in common as they all have mistresses kept in separate apartments from their lives with their wives.

Who would be bold enough to kill three policemen, a serial killer, another cop trying to clean up corruption in the department or something else entirely? Then a woman connected to the cops goes out a tenth floor window of her apartment building and a witness is left. The woman across the street happened to be watching out her window at the time of the woman’s fall. This is Serena, who is married to a high ranking government official and somewhat unstable, and her recollection of the event is questionable. Serena becomes quite obsessed with the woman’s fall and believes it to be a murder not a suicide as it was reported.

It is up to Espinosa and three hand picked detectives that he can trust and knows are not corrupt to try to solve the killings which include investigating other officers throughout Rio. They must investigate the other officers to try to determine the extent of the dead men’s corruption and who might be next on the list however no one is talking and they are all soon ostracized from their other officers.

I liked Inspector Espinosa and the other characters in this novel and would read others in the series. It was somewhat slower paced than my preferred novels and some of that may have been due to it being translated. It was still a good quick read with quite interesting characters.

Gina Metz - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Gina Metz - RAM