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The Silence of the Rain; December Heat; Southwesterly Wind; A Window in Copacabana; Pursuit
Recommended by a friend who rarely leads me astray, this mystery series featuring Inspector Espinosa is a treat of spare but vivid writing set in the lush environs of Rio de Janeiro. Espinosa has a literary and philosophical bent befitting his name as well as a sensual nature that emerges now and then. The characters are distinct and 
intriguing. Like many of his Scandinavian counterparts (such as Martin Beck, created by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo, and Kurt Wallander, created by Henning Mankell), Espinosa seems to be mildly depressed most of the time, perhaps because of the pathetic diet of frozen pasta dinners he habitually consumes in the disarray of an apartment he never brings himself to put in order. Darkly comic, worldly wise, these mysteries have memorable moments of human connection and serenity. Their pace is quite deliberate, and Espinosa sometimes seems to turn over every rock on the shore, but they are well realized and engaging. Any of these will be a welcome escape from the January blizzards some of us endure.
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become private enterprises funded by corporations to protect their interests. Prison, “Painball,” is a kind of Roman circus of criminals hunting one another and televised for the enlightenment of the citizenry. Two women, Ren and Toby, who have been rescued from violent sexual predators by the Gardeners, are the central characters. Their efforts to survive after The Flood, a pandemic that kills most of the human population, are painful. Despite the dark themes of the novel, there is also great hope for the kindest and most generative aspects of humankind, and there is a dark humor throughout the novel.
browse, I find that many of them are just not so great. The Girl Who Played with Fire is as riveting as the first entry, with more of the back story on Lisbeth Salander, the fascinating protagonist of the series, who lives by her own moral code, snooping at will through computers and standing off against some truly scary villains. Her history is compelling, and gives us sympathy with her even as she sometimes seems to care little for other people. Her utter refusal to give in or lose is really fun to see played out. Larsson brings in the world of journalism with the character of Mikael Bloomqvist, the clever investigative reporter who happened into partnership with Salander in the first novel, and who spends most of this one chasing her shadow. The final installment, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, is due out in May of 2010. I will be in a quandary—once I read it, the series is over for me. (If you missed the story, Stieg Larsson, a Swedish journalist, submitted the manuscripts for the three novels, but died before the first was published.) If you like edgy, fast-paced thrillers with a lot of style and you haven’t read this series, you have some fun in store.
gets worse, and solving the case requires hours of boring, tedious investigation. Nonethless, Beck and Kollberg are engaging precisely because they, too, are fully human. They persist despite the tedium of the work, and the rare moments of connection and delight are rewarding. This and the others in the series are exceptionally well-written and a great antidote to the endless “thrill-ride” of most current mysteries and thrillers. The series has recently been re-released in trade paper. Those who enjoy the classics of the genre and those who enjoy dark comedy will love this series.