It's no mystery that some of the most loyal recreational readers are big whodunit fans—they'll follow an appealing gumshoe, book after book, to the bitter end, and sometimes beyond. Consider the case of Mexican mystery master Paco Ignacio Taibo II, who thought he could wrap up a series by leaving the bullet-riddled corpse of his wildly popular detective out in the rain. Clamoring readers wouldn't permit it. Taibo resurrected the character with little more than a bewildered preface in his next book, claiming that not even he understood how the guy came back to life; the fans, he said, were as much to blame as he was.

Detective and crime fiction is a recent movement in Spanish-language letters. Only in the past 30 years has it boldly transcended Anglo and French models to produce assured, distinctive work that has garnered an enthusiastic following. Its antecedents are signaled by the most prominent award for novels, the Premio Hammett (not to be confused with the Hammett Prize for U.S. and Canadian writers). Hammett, the creator of Sam Spade is far more consonant with Spanish-language mystery writers than is Agatha Christie. Cynical depictions of crime amid institutional corruption mark the best fiction in the genre from Spain and Latin America, and the style takes its name from the French noir. The world of the novela negra, or "black novel," is a hard-edged place where quiet chaos reigns. The annual Semana Negra festival in Gijón, Spain—Taibo's birthplace—makes a global focal point for this movement. Those who can't make it to Spain but want to investigate this scene on their own would do well to visit La Gangsterera at gangsterera.free.fr, which is a virtual doorway into the vibrant Spanish-language noir culture. The site's links page includes an index of the genre's most noteworthy publishers.

Ampuero, Roberto.

¿Quién mató a Cristián Kustermann?
(Who Killed Cristián Kustermann?)
Chile/U.S.: Planeta. 2001. 203p. ISBN 956-247-103-9. pap. $14.95.

Boleros en La Habana.
(Boleros in Havana)
Spain/U.S.: Planeta (Cayetano Brulé). 1997. 312p. ISBN 84-08-02314-4. pap. $19.95.

From Chile come these amusing tales of a paunchy, polyester-suited correspondence-school detective, Cayetano Brulé, who is Chilean but has roots in Cuba and Miami. His popular adventures have taken him to all three places, and to Germany as well (author Ampuero is a cosmopolite who has lived all over the globe). His rightward political leanings set him apart from most Spanish-language mystery writers, and his Brulé books contain enough criticism of Fidel Castro to delight many South Florida readers.

Azpeitia, Javier.

Hipnos.
(Hypnos)
Spain: Ediciones Lengua de Trapo, dist. by Océano. 1996. 192p. ISBN 84-89618-02-X. pap. $19.95.

Another Hammett winner, this thriller zeros in on an investigation in a psychiatric ward that relies heavily on hypnosis. The film version of the novel is scheduled for a 2004 release.

Giménez Bartlett, Alicia.

Ritos de muerte.
(Death Rites)
264p. ISBN 84-08-04667-5.

Serpientes en el paraíso.
(Snakes in Eden)
344p. ISBN 84-08-04920-8. ea. vol.: Spain/U.S.: Planeta (Petra Delicado). 2003. pap. $9.95.

Petra Delicado is a 40-something Barcelona police inspector armed to the teeth with ironic wit and cynicism. She and her sidekick Fermín Garzón have quickly built up a following since their debut in the 1990s; a Spanish TV series featured singer and actress Ana Belén as Petra, and Italian television recently took on Giménez Bartlett's stories.

Leon, Donna.

Muerte en La Fenice.
(Death at La Fenice)
2003. 304p. ISBN 84-322-1617-8.

Vestido para la muerte.
(Dressed for Death)
2001. 288p. ISBN 84-322-1947-9. ea. vol.: tr. by Ana María de la Fuente. Spain/U.S.: Seix Barral: Planeta (Guido Brunetti). pap. $8.95.

Leon's worldwide success has propelled her stories of the bookish and cultured Italian Commissario Guido Brunetti into more than 20 languages. A native of New Jersey who writes in English, Leon has lived in Italy since 1981. For years, she had no U.S. publisher, and devoted American fans had been known to spend exorbitant sums for imported copies of Brunetti books. Leon inhabits the Italian settings and characters of her fiction, and Seix Barral, in releasing her books in Spanish, is banking that these well-crafted depictions of Latino people and places will appeal to readers in Spain and the Americas. Leon's willingness to tackle social issues places her work comfortably in the novela negra bag. Seix Barral has made available 11 Formentor editions in comely octavo format, but some of its less-expensive pocket-size Bookets can also be found.

Martín, Andreu & Jaume Ribera.

No pidas sardina fuera de temporada.
(Don't Order Sardines Out of Season)
Spain/U.S.: Alfaguara: Santillana. 2003. 184p. ISBN 84-20-44796-X. pap. $11.95.

Flanagan Blues Band.
Spain: Grupo Anaya (Espacio Abierto). 2003. 232p. ISBN 84-207-7518-5. pap. $8.95.

Martín is yet another Catalan mystery writer who rose to fame shortly after the death of Francisco Franco in 1975. His own award-winning crime novels are renowned for their alarming violence, but it is his collaboration with comic book writer Jaume Ribera that produced the long-running Flanagan series for young adults. Flanagan is a teenage "neighborhood detective" in Barcelona. His humor and good-natured sarcasm leaven stories that offer positive messages about family life and the importance of community.

Padura, Leonardo.

Pasado perfecto.
(Past Perfect)
2000. 232p. ISBN 84-8310-126-2.

Paisaje de otoño.
(Autumn Landscape)
1998. 264p. ISBN 84-8310-070-3. ea. vol.: Spain/U.S.: Tusquets (Mario Conde). pap. $19.95.

Former investigative reporter Padura, who lives in Cuba, won the 1998 Premio Hammett for Paisaje de otoño. It's part of a tetralogy based on the four seasons; the other two titles are Máscaras and Vientos de cuaresma (Winds of Lent, Críticas, Jan./Feb. 2002). Lt. Mario Conde takes readers through a Havana few will ever see as he negotiates its back alleys and bureaucracy. Padura's portrayal of drug-addled narcotics police in Máscaras caused a stir on the island, showing once again how the novela negra functions as a powerful vehicle for social commentary.

Ramírez, Sergio.

Castigo divino.
(Divine Retribution)
Mexico/U.S.: Punto de Lectura: Santillana. 2001. 808p. ISBN 970-731-005-7. pap. $13.99.

In León, Nicaragua, in 1932, a rash of poisonings killed animals and then people. This popular novel by the country's former vice president—who is, incidentally, a masterful writer—fleshes out the events and the period to paint a memorable, somber picture of Nicaragua before Somoza.

Leñero, Vicente.

Asesinato.
(Murder)
Mexico/U.S.: Grijalbo: Random House Mondadori. 2003. 493p. ISBN 968-11-0609-1. pap. $10.95.

The gruesome 1978 machete murder of an aged Mexican politico and his novelist wife by their spoiled grandson is the starting point for a painstaking exploration of the crime and its societal implications. Leñero draws from a remarkable variety of documentary sources to shed light into some surprising crevices of 20th-century Mexican history and culture.

Mendoza, Mario.

Satanás.
(Satan)
Colombia/U.S: Seix Barral: Planeta. 2002. 285p. ISBN 958-42-0292-8. $18.95.

Colombia's Mendoza won the 2002 Premio Biblioteca Breve with this psychological thriller inspired by a mass murderer in Bogotá. The real-life killer was writing a study of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde at the time of his crime, and Mendoza's novel, set against a rich backdrop of institutionalized criminality and violence, artfully ponders evil and the contradictions of human identity. [See review in Críticas, July/Aug. 2002—Ed.]

Serna, Enrique.

El miedo a los animales.
(Fear of Animals)
Mexico/U.S.: Planeta. 2003. 269p. ISBN 968-27-0894-X. pap. $8.95.

Evaristo Reyes, newspaperman turned police investigator, wrestles mightily with his own inner conflicts as he works to unravel a killing whose clues spill into the worlds of politics, law enforcement, and the Mexican literary intelligentsia. The tale is fast-paced, and the corruption and bitter rivalries it reveals, mind-boggling.

Taibo II, Paco Ignacio.

Días de combate.
(Days of Combat)
ISBN 970-690-964-8. 225p.

Cosa fácil.
(An Easy Thing)
ISBN 970-960-963-X. 222p.

Algunas nubes/No habrá final feliz.
(Some Clouds/No Happy Ending)
ISBN 970-690-965-6. 247p.

Regreso a la misma ciudad y bajo la lluvia/Amorosos fantasmas.
(Return to the Same City/Phantoms in Love)
ISBN 970-690-966-4. 229p.

Sueños de frontera/Desvanecidos difuntos/Adiós Madrid.
(Frontera Dreams/Vanishing Dead/Goodbye, Madrid)
ISBN 968-406-827-1. 307p. ea. vol: Mexico/U.S.: Planeta (Belascoarán Shayne). 2003. $9.95.

This complete set of Taibo II's most popular series, in pocket-book editions bearing Planeta's Booket imprint, is cause for celebration. The dry wit and cynical social commentary of the indestructible Héctor Belascoarán Shayne, a former engineer who shares his office with a motley assortment of guys just getting by, says a lot about modern Mexican society. Taibo is the leading exponent of the sly novela negra in the Spanish-speaking world—it's scarcely a stretch to liken his importance to that of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in Anglo detective fiction. Every summer for the past 16 years, he has masterminded Semana Negra in Gijón, Spain, a 10-day celebration of all manifestations of this culture, which draws a million visitors annually.

Valdés, Hugo.

El crimen de la Calle Aramberri.
(The Crime of Aramberri Street)
Mexico: Ediciones Castillo. 2003. 308p. ISBN 970-20-0329-6. pap. $14.

Nowadays Monterrey is revered as a pop-music hotbed, but this sophisticated novelistic treatment of a well-remembered 1933 killing there takes readers back to a time when Mexico's third-largest city shed its innocence and moved into the modern industrial age. Fervent praise from Carlos Fuentes helped bring attention to this intriguing, stylistically challenging novela negra. [See full review in Críticas, July/Aug. 2003—Ed.]

Vázquez Montalbán, Manuel.

Quinteto de Buenos Aires.
(The Buenos Aires Quintet)
Spain/U.S.: GeoPlaneta: Planeta (Pepe Carvalho). 1999. 528p. ISBN 84-08-022213-X. pap. $27.95.

El premio.
(The Prize)
Spain/U.S.: GeoPlaneta: Planeta (Pepe Carvalho). 1998. 352p. ISBN 84-08-01994-5. pap. $21.95.

Pepe Carvalho, the wry book-burning dean of Spanish fictional detectives, came to life in 1972 and pulled readers (including Prince Felipe, reportedly) through more than a score of novels. Vázquez Montalbán's criticisms of the social crises in Spain's rapidly evolving post-Franco society made him a widely respected intellectual. Like Taibo II, he was a prolific and multifaceted author who published widely outside the detective realm, and his restless intellect colors the Carvalho books. The author's untimely death late last year spawned a flurry of televised and printed tributes in his native Barcelona.