Just prior to Castro's takeover of Cuba, Luis's father had entrusted his partner Miguel de la Torre with the diamonds that represented the value of their joint business, on the understanding that whenever the Delgados arrived in Miami, they – or whoever was left of the family – could claim the their share of the money. Luis tells Lupe that the De la Torres deny the existence of such an agreement and refuse to give him what he rightfully deserves. Worse, he claims that Miguel and Teresa de la Torre tried to have him killed, sending a hit man after him. The only reason he is alive is the skills he learned in the harsh world of Castro's Cuba.

Lupe's first instinct is to refuse the case. Miguel and Teresa de la Torre could not be more well-known, well-respected and well-liked in Miami's community of Cuban exiles; Miguel is even a friend of Lupe's father. Yet despite her misgivings, she takes the case.

I have a weakness for stories that transport me to other worlds, and I don't care if the distance between me and that world is created by time or space. The Lupe Solano mysteries bring me to today's Miami, where the greater world comes to mingle, not always peacefully, and where carrying a gun in one's glovebox is seen as a sensible precaution, on a level with taking the keys out of the ignition when leaving the car.

Besides being a vivid slice of life, Bloody Secrets is complex, gritty and tense with Lupe's ambivalence about Luis. Is he telling the truth? Are his wild claims valid? Or is there a bigger game being played here?

As I was reading, I was turning over possible scenarios, trying to figure out who was telling the truth, who was telling lies and who had the most to gain or lose. The ending surprised me, yet I didn't feel as if I had been cheated. No vital information is withheld and in looking back over the course of the story, I could see where the denouement had been foreshadowed. In this story, as in life, hindsight is 20/20.

A story that's a pleasure to read, a novel soaked in ambience, a mystery that is both logical and tricky to figure out: what more could a mystery reader want?

--Katy Cooper