"First class police procedural"
Sheriff Luis Gonzalo of the small town of Angustias, Puerto
Rico (pop. 9000) spends most of his time dealing with
drunken brawls and domestic disputes. Elena Maldonado
calls Luis asking for a lift home from the hospital for her
and her newborn son, which he agrees to do though he
worries about the twosome. Everyone in town knows that her
husband is a drunk and a wife beater but Elena insists she
can handle the situation. He sends one of his officers to check on her, but the
deputy finds Elena stabbed to death on her kitchen floor,
her husband sitting on the couch and covered in blood
holding the murder weapon. The sheriff thinks he has an
open and shut case but then he discovers that Elena was
cheating on her husband and planned to divorce him.
Somebody tries to enter the Maldonado house that is being
guarded by a police officer forcing the sheriff to place
the perpetrator on the suspect list. By the time he is
finished with the case, he has so many suspects that he has
to hold some of them in the local church and the deputy
mayor's office. This is a first class police procedural but readers should
be warned there is a lot of police brutality contained in
this novel. The protagonist is an intelligent man who
loves to solve puzzles and as the pieces of the conundrum
come together he starts making the right connections.
DEATH IN PRECINCT PUERTO RICO is a must read for fans who
like a dark and gritty police thriller. Harriet Klausner
Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted April 10, 2003
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