A mystery in translation set in the wintertime. This checked quite a few boxes for me when I chose to read it. Taking place after WWII in Argentina, the story opens at the apartment where many European emigres happen to live and a woman is found dead in the elevator. It's a very intriguing set up and as the police detectives arrive and interview the residents it's clear to see many have secrets.
The story takes a few twists and turns (it's a short volume) and I admit that I did not peg the murderer. That made for a good point but this ends so abruptly and matter-of-factly that I can't say I was satisfied. I can't even attribute the ending to being a translation quirk, there can't be more to translate when there is no more. So, a fine enough police procedural with detectives I'd happily spend time with again but I'd hope for a bit more breadth. Three stars to this outing of Argentina's Christie!
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Death Going Down (Pushkin Vertigo Book 13) Kindle Edition
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This intelligent postwar tale of survival and extortion, obsession and lies, is a classic detective novel from the Argentinian Agatha Christie
In the early hours of the morning, a woman is found in the elevator of a plush apartment block on Santa Fe Road, Buenos Aires. She's young, gorgeous—and dead.
It looks like suicide, and yet none of the building’s residents can be trusted; the man who discovered her is a womanizing drunk; her husband is behaving strangely; and upstairs, a photographer and his sister appear to be hiding something sinister. When Inspector Ericourt and his colleague Blasi are set on the trail of some missing photographs, a disturbing secret past begins to unravel.
Set during the aftermath of World War II, when many immigrants left Europe for Argentina—some of them with dark pasts to hide—Death Going Down contains all the ingredients of a classic detective novel.
In the early hours of the morning, a woman is found in the elevator of a plush apartment block on Santa Fe Road, Buenos Aires. She's young, gorgeous—and dead.
It looks like suicide, and yet none of the building’s residents can be trusted; the man who discovered her is a womanizing drunk; her husband is behaving strangely; and upstairs, a photographer and his sister appear to be hiding something sinister. When Inspector Ericourt and his colleague Blasi are set on the trail of some missing photographs, a disturbing secret past begins to unravel.
Set during the aftermath of World War II, when many immigrants left Europe for Argentina—some of them with dark pasts to hide—Death Going Down contains all the ingredients of a classic detective novel.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherPushkin Vertigo
- Publication dateFebruary 21, 2017
- File size692 KB
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WARNING:
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Editorial Reviews
Review
" This is a fine example of translated fiction newly brought to the attention of English-speaking readers." — Cindy Pauldine, Bookseller, in Shelf Awareness
"Those who find the form engaging will discover plenty to enjoy here." — Crime Review
"Clever and intense." — Sunday Times Crime Club
"One of the best Argentinean detective novels of the twentieth century" — MDZ Magazine
"Those who find the form engaging will discover plenty to enjoy here." — Crime Review
"Clever and intense." — Sunday Times Crime Club
"One of the best Argentinean detective novels of the twentieth century" — MDZ Magazine
About the Author
María Angélica Bosco (Buenos Aires 1917 -2006) was an Argentinian writer and translator, who received numerous prizes and awards. Her first novel was La muerte baja en el ascensor, which won the Emecé Novel Award in 1954. She was known as the Argentinian Agatha Christie, for her dedication to detective fiction, and yet this is her first title be be translated into English.
Product details
- ASIN : B01CWYTJS0
- Publisher : Pushkin Vertigo (February 21, 2017)
- Publication date : February 21, 2017
- Language : English
- File size : 692 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 161 pages
- Page numbers source ISBN : 1782272232
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,465,860 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
Customer reviews
3.3 out of 5 stars
3.3 out of 5
39 global ratings
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- Reviewed in the United States on February 13, 2022
- Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2018More than sixty years after it was first published as La muerte baja en el ascensor (Death Takes the Elevator), this Emecé Prize-winning debut from the 'Argentinean Agatha Christie' is now available for English-speaking readers for the first time (it had also been re-issued in Spanish in recent years, as part of a collection bringing 'significant titles' back into print).
This is an intriguing read that gives a flavour of post-war Argentina and the tailend of the 1940s-1950s Peron presidency. Unusually for Latin American crime fiction, it leans strongly towards classic Golden Age murder mysteries in tone, pacing, and atmosphere, with some local flourishes, rather than hardboiled crime detectives or social novels packed with police and political corruption.
Because of that, it can read a little slow or dated at times, but it is an interesting book from a talented and rather overlooked author. Bosco (1917-2006) became famous in Argentina later in her writing career for her strong female protagonists, upturning macho Latin stereotypes, and the way she tweaked mystery conventions - but this first novel of hers has a more traditional feel, starring a 'thinking male detective' (though that was unusual in of itself in Latin American crime).
Inspector Ericourt is an older, experienced Buenos Aires policeman who seems to work slowly and methodically but is often a few steps ahead of where he seems. His younger colleague, Blasi, is keen as mustard; more impatient, action-oriented, and with a tendency to jump to conclusions.
Together they investigate the death of a young woman, discovered by a drunk man in the elevator of an apartment block in a wealthier part of post-war Buenos Aires. Some signs point to suicide, but that raises questions and mysteries in of itself. Who is the woman, why was she in the building? Was she upset after visiting someone there? Is her death evidence of a dangerous liaison, or something else?
DEATH GOING DOWN is a slim novel, but not necessarily a quick read. It's more absorbing than page-whirring, as Ericourt goes about his investigation in a very measured way, looking at the residents of the luxury apartment block and others who knew the dead women. There are plenty of suspects, secrets, clues, and red herrings for fans of classic Golden Age mysteries to enjoy.
More deaths follow, and secrets are poked at until Ericourt gathers the survivors together to re-enact the crime and unmask the killer. Clearly not ground-breaking in format for English-speaking readers, but it was a much lesser-used trope for Latin American writers (given that readers over there were traditionally much more distrustful of their police forces, so classic detective fiction was a rarity).
There's nothing particularly stand-out with the 'puzzle' aspects of DEATH GOING DOWN, but I enjoyed the insights Bosco gives readers into post-war Argentine life. Modern readers may pounce on suspicions about German and other European immigrants in Buenos Aires, or wonder why a death by cyanide poisoning is considered more likely to be suicide than murder (answer - it was quite a common method of suicide at that time), but Bosco's short novel, written in the 1950s, gives us an idea of how things were seen then, as opposed to an historic mystery novel set in those times but written by a modern-day author who has the benefit of hindsight but a lack of firsthand knowledge.
A good read, that brings an overlooked crime writer to English-speaking audiences. From what I've read about Bosco, I understand her later crime novels were bolder and more ground-breaking, so I certainly hope that Pushkin Vertigo will continue to bring out more of her oeuvre in English..
Top reviews from other countries
- Sneha PathakReviewed in India on April 9, 2019
3.0 out of 5 stars Okayish
An okayish book. The mystery is good but the narration is clanky. It doesn't flow seemlessly and takes away from the pleasure of reading this book.