THE HONEST FOLK OF GUADELOUPE

Two disturbing murders unsettle the residents of a tropical paradise.

May 1990. Judge (which in Guadeloupe means investigator) Anne Marie Laveaud is questioning fragile Madame Dugain about the death of her husband, Rodolphe, a popular environmentalist and local television personality. The official ruling of suicide seems incongruous because of Rodolphe's steady good humor and the four children he leaves behind. After over 10 years in Guadeloupe, the French-Algerian Anne Marie has learned to sidestep the local morass of petty political and racial tension by operating with cool dispassion and inscrutable efficiency (Another Sun, 2013). She's far less impassive within the walls of her home, where she remains as obsessed with this as with previous cases. So does she really need the married head of the Tourist Bureau, charming as he is, to invite her to dinner? Anne Marie's discovery of Rodolphe's former mistress definitely complicates the case. Her plate becomes unpleasantly full with the disappearance of young French tourist Evelyne Vaton, who could be a match for the remains recently found on a nude beach. But when Evelyne's parents claim that the victim’s corpse is not their daughter, Anne Marie is forced to look elsewhere. In light of the victim's race and the island's dependence on tourism, she faces immense pressure to make an arrest as soon as possible.

Anne Marie's second appearance, courtesy of the author of the Pietro Trotti crime novels, boasts an elegantly incisive narrative and a fascinating heroine.