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A Cuban Mystery
by Teresa Dovalpage
Set in Havana during the Black Spring of 2003, a charming but poison-laced culinary mystery reveals the darker side of the modern Revolution, complete with authentic Cuban recipes.
Matt, a San Diego journalist, arrives in Havana to marry his girlfriend, Yarmila, a 24-year-old Cuban woman whom he first met through her food blog. But Yarmi isn't there to meet him at the airport, and when he hitches a ride to her apartment, he finds her lying dead in the bathtub.
With Yarmi's murder, lovelorn Matt is immediately embroiled in a Cuban adventure he didn't bargain for. The police and secret service have him down as their main suspect, and in an effort to clear his name, he must embark on his own investigation into what really happened. The more Matt learns about his erstwhile fiancée, though, the more he realizes he had no idea who she was at all—but did anyone?
"Starred Review. Dazzling...Those expecting a traditional food cozy will be happily surprised." - Publishers Weekly
"The parade of colorful characters helps Dovalpage paint a vivid portrait of late Castro-era Cuba." - Kirkus
"Don't let the title and included Cuban recipes mislead you into thinking this is a cozy — this novel shows the gritty side of Cuba." - Library Journal
"A lively murder mystery with a Cuban culinary twist. Teresa Dovalpage brings Havana—with its rampant shortages, schemes, and sensuality—to vivid life. Studded with food blogs by a murdered Cuban chef and the efforts of her hapless American fiancé, this is a dark comedy bursting with cultural history and recipes." - Cristina García, New York Times bestselling author of Dreaming in Cuban
"Death Comes in through the Kitchen might be a story about death, but it's also alive with authentic cubanidad, intrigue, humor, delicious recipes, and complex characters. Beautifully written and bursting with surprises!" - Margarita Engle, author of Mountain Dog and National Young People's Poet Laureate
"In her debut crime novel, Teresa Dovalpage delivers her signature sass and bawdy wit, while rendering a bittersweet portrayal of Cuba in the last years of Castro's reign." - Lorraine M. López, author of Homicide Survivors Picnic and Other Stories and The Darling
"You've never read a mystery like this one! In Dovalpage's Cuba, love, murder, food and politics form a deliciously dark and funny stew." - Chantel Acevedo, author of The Distant Marvels and The Living Infinite
This information about Death Comes in through the Kitchen was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Teresa Dovalpage was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1966. She earned her BA in English literature and an MA in Spanish literature at the University of Havana, and her PhD in Latin American literature at the University of New Mexico. She is the author of twelve other works of fiction and three plays, and is the winner of the Rincón de la Victoria Award and a finalist for the Herralde Award. She lives in New Mexico.
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