Book Review: Readings

Prime Time Suspect

by Alicia Giménez-Bartlett; translated by Nick Caistor
Europa, 299 pp., $14.95 (paper)

In the macho world of crime fiction, a lady's perspective is always refreshing. That's not to say that Barcelona Police Inspector Petra Delicado isn't one tough customer; it's just that she sometimes navigates the gritty world of homicide investigations from a different axis of emotional coordinates than her male colleagues. Call it intuition if you'd like.

This is the second Inspector Delicado novel from award-winning Spanish author Alicia Giménez-Bartlett. Her series finds itself under the aegis of "Mediterranean noir," a European hard-boiled crime genre that includes the likes of Italy's Massimo Carlotto and the late French writer Jean-Claude Izzo. While there are certainly elements of noir in Delicado's dark ruminations about Spanish society and her role within it, it's probably more accurate to describe this story as a police procedural. Inspector Delicado and her partner, Sgt. Fermin Garzon, are tracking down the murderer of a despised television journalist and gossip columnist whose m.o. is digging dirty to humiliate celebrities, politicians, and the social elite.

At first the professional hit appears to be a simple revenge killing, but the case becomes more complicated and soon intertwines with a seemingly unrelated society murder. Meanwhile, the bodies continue to stack up. The action takes place in both Barcelona and Madrid, but sadly there is very little presence of place other than hotel bars and crowded restaurants, where the principals seem to spend a lot of time recharging from their constant shuttling between cities. The no-nonsense Delicado is an intriguing character, wearing her feminist tendencies on her sleeve one moment and acknowledging her more traditional and vulnerable side the next. Rooting into the sleazy world of gossip journalism bares examination of class, wealth, beauty, gender roles, and society's utter fascination with celebrities and their peccadilloes. Personal relationships are an important subtext, whether concerning the victims, the suspects, the investigators, or a wayward family member. Also, the inspector's relationships with her partner and her colleagues are complex and not always cordial. It's hard to tell how much of the book's cultural nuance is lost in the translation, but the crux of this tale is universal, regardless of gender.