Dark echoes of the past /

Eterovic is an institution in his native Chile. His novels have been turned into TV shows and graphic novels, but this one is the first translated into English. It introduces Heredia, a Santiago PI who is hired to investigate the murder of a cashier in a lumberyard. Police see it as a robbery gone wrong, but Heredia links it to the CIA-aided coup that installed General Augusto Pinochet as president and resulted in a reign of terror, torture, and murder that still casts a shadow on the country. Eterovic stays close to the facts, but U.S. readers will likely need to do some Googling to understand the emotional scars that Eterovic's characters display. Heredia is an engaging protagonist. He talks to his cat, Simenon, and Simenon talks back, usually with snark, in the way of a spouse or a lifelong friend. Heredia reads American crime novels and bets on the horses with his pal, Anselmo, who sells newspapers from a kiosk. Much of the book is discursive, and the discursions illuminate the city of Santiago. A fine discovery for followers of international crime.--Gaughan, Thomas Copyright 2017 Booklist

Chilean author Eterovic makes his English-language debut with this Chandleresque crime novel centered on a case about the human rights abuses that occurred in Chile in the years after Pinochet ousted Allende. In classic PI style, Heredia, a Santiago private investigator, looks into the death of a security guard at a lumberyard on the behalf of the victim's sister. He follows clues through the mean streets of Santiago, slowly interviewing witnesses and suspects. The trail eventually leads back to the inmates and executioners of Villa Grimaldi, a torture camp, though the narrative emphasizes moral outrage rather than the violence. Along the way, the bookish Heredia associates with another investigator, who's more inclined to use muscle than he is. He also has a cat named Simenon, who gets some dialogue, which inevitably gives the novel a soft-boiled edge. Imagine Philip Marlowe with a talking cat and lots of time to read, but still sleuthing and drinking, and you have Heredia. (Dec.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.