Marilyn's Mystery Reads

As both author and narrator of this book, Teresa Dovalpage returns to Havana, the city of her birth, in The Novel Detective to try to unravel a mystery concerning two deaths at her former school.  Although decades have passed, Teresa has never forgotten the horror of the day when Yoyi, another girl at the school, and Felipe, the Spanish teacher, were found dead.  The authorities called both deaths suicides, but Teresa is not alone in wondering if that was the truth.

Teresa is a novelist in New Mexico, and her friend Estrella is a DJ at a Spanish-language radio station in Miami.  Unexpectedly Estrella calls Teresa, offering her the opportunity to return to Havana and look into the deaths that occurred when both girls were students at the José Antonio Echeverria Middle School–that of Yoyi, the most beautiful girl in their class, and Felipe, the teacher who was the object of students’ and other teachers’ crushes.  Estrella tells Teresa that the police version of the deaths is that Felipe threw himself out of a window when he learned that his affair with Yoyi was going public. If convicted, he would be facing jail for the crime of having sexual relations with a minor.  Then Yoyi took poison because she couldn’t live without him.  “So very Romeo and Juliet!” Teresa says. 

Estrella promises to pay for their airfare and expenses while in Cuba, and Teresa, who always has had questions about what actually happened, agrees to the trip.  And, she thinks, it may be helpful for the novel she’s always wanted to write about the two deaths.

Estrella says that she has been in touch with Rogelio, a policeman who may be able to assist them with their surreptitious investigation.  He is not the officer who originally investigated the deaths, as that officer left Cuba on the Mariel boatlift as Teresa did, so perhaps he is coming to the case with an open mind.  At least that is what Teresa is hoping.

The novel takes place both in 2020, just before Covid made travel difficult if not impossible, and 1980, just before Teresa and her mother leave Cuba.  She has never returned to the island, and she is naturally curious about the changes that have taken place since she left.

Some things in Havana have changed while some things  haven’t.  The two women are met at the airport by Osiris, the owner of the casa particular where the women are scheduled to stay, and are taken there by the driver of an almendrón, one of the American automobiles that have been in the country since the 1950s and are featured in many photos.

The Spanish words that appear in the novel are translated seamlessly by the author without interrupting the flow of the story.  In addition, her descriptions of the city, both the changes that have taken place since Teresa and her mother left and the things that have remained the same, make the city and its inhabitants come alive for the reader.

Teresa Dovalpage has written a fascinating and impressive mystery about a country that has played an important part in American history.  Her characters are vibrant and alive, and the determination of both Teresa and Estrella to solve the mystery surrounding the deaths of Yoyi and Felipe ring true.

You can read more about the author at this website.

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