BOOK OF THE WEEK
Author Teresa Dovalpage blends together a Havana mystery across time
The Hobbs author and UNM grad delivers a gripping, layered crime story
Even before you open the first page of Teresa Dovalpage鈥檚 entertaining whodunit, there鈥檚 wordplay to figure out.
Where exactly is this wordplay going on in this work of crime fiction?
Right there in the book鈥檚 title, on the front cover 鈥� 鈥淭he Novel Detective.鈥� And below it in the subtitle, 鈥淎 Detective Novel.鈥�
In the title, Dovalpage uses word 鈥渘ovel鈥� as an adjective to describe the special status of the main character. She鈥檚 an amateur detective.
The story takes place in Havana. However, the action takes places in time periods 40 years apart.
Chapters alternate back and forth in time, between Havana in the year 1980 and Havana in the year 2020.
The main character鈥檚 first name changes slightly with the periods. She鈥檚 the teenager Teresita in 1980, and the adult Teresa, now living in the 近距离内射合集 States (Hobbs to be exact) in 2020.
Throughout the book she is joined by her sidekick and longtime friend Estrella. Think of Estrella as Sherlock Holmes鈥� Watson.
In fact, it is the adult Estrella, a deejay in Miami, who encourages Teresa to return to Havana with her in 2020 to reexamine the same-day deaths in 1980 of classmate Yoyi and the schoolteacher Felipe.
Teresita had fled Cuba a few weeks after the twin deaths, so she never found out the official results of the police investigation 鈥� suicide.
The story opens with Teresa saying how for many years she would be awakened at night by terrible dreams of the two dead people calling out to her.
鈥淵oyi, the prettiest girl in my ninth-grade class, and Felipe, our English teacher and the school鈥檚 heartthrob.鈥�
In her repeated nightmare, Teresa relates, the couple weren鈥檛 making out nor smiling at each other.
Rather, she recalled her memory of them on the last day of their lives.
Yoyi was lying on a classroom floor, dead or dying, and Felipe鈥檚 shattered body was found on the ground of the school鈥檚 courtyard.
Teresa was certain their deaths weren鈥檛 a double suicide.
Yoyi hadn鈥檛 poisoned herself, and Felipe didn鈥檛 jump from a fourth-story window in a Cuban version of Romeo and Juliet.
The chapters set in 1980 present Teresita sharpening her youthful snooping skills (she鈥檚 鈥渘osy but not a tattle-tale鈥�) with help from reading Sherlock Holmes mysteries and Agatha Christie novels featuring sleuths Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple.
Back in Havana in 2020, Teresa teams up with Estrella to interview former classmates, teachers and staff from their middle school who might have information, or a least suspicions, about the person covering up their motive for killing Yoyi and Felipe.
Through Teresita/Teresa鈥檚 and Estrella鈥檚 remembrances and encounters, they think they know who is guilty in the deaths.
Throughout the novel, the city of Havana becomes a character itself.
Examples are a description of a street vendor selling shaved ice slushies (granizados), or La Esquina Caliente, the nickname of a corner of Parque Central, a popular gathering place for baseball fans in both time periods. All day and into the night fans would gather to talk baseball, from the Industriales team鈥檚 most recent performance to Armando Capir贸鈥檚 latest home run.
Publishers Weekly said this about 鈥淭he Novel Detective鈥�: 鈥淲ith lovable characters, a gripping core mystery and vividly rendered setting, this bolsters Dovalpage鈥檚 reputation as a reliable purveyor of quality crime fiction.鈥�
Though the book is identified as fiction, the author in a phone interview referred to the form of the book as metafiction.
鈥淚t is (metafiction) when writing blurs the line between fiction and reality, and the book and the author become one thing. It was fun experimenting with that,鈥� Dovalpage said.
She is also the author of 13 novels, including a four-volume Havana Mystery series, four plays and three short-story collections.
鈥淭he Novel Detective鈥� is the first volume of a planned new series.
Dovalpage said Teresa/Teresita is a lot like her. 鈥淚 was a nerd. I鈥檓 still a nerd. I love to read,鈥� she said.
Dovalpage lived in Cuba for the first 30 years of her life before emigrating to the 近距离内射合集 States. She has lived in San Diego, Taos, Albuquerque and now Hobbs.
She received a doctorate at the University of New Mexico. Dovalpage currently teaches Spanish and ESL at New Mexico Junior College.
