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It's mildly disconcerting to find a crime novel which defies categorisation. Crime is usually such a comforting field, full of certainties and conventions. LUZ STELLA'S TALE cheerfully throws away the rule book; the result is an unusual, not to say whimsical, read. Max Blue signals his playfulness in the first scene, which is set on board the Starlight Casino ship. One of the book's main characters, Stella Luz (Starlight - getting the idea?) saves the life of her friend Inspector Pacheco of the Costa Rican police, killing a man in the process. The character of Stella Luz is apparently based on that of Ingrid Betancourt, the Colombian presidential candidate taken hostage by rebels in 2002. Stella Luz is on the run from Colombian drug barons, so when Pacheco is asked by his old friends in the CIA to investigate the abduction of two scientists, Luz and Pacheco join forces to exploit her scientific expertise, and to enable Pacheco to watch out for her. Inevitably, they wander into a terrorist plot, but that's as far as convention is allowed to take us - it's a South American plot rather than the fashionable Middle Eastern variety. The adventures which follow centre on Birmingham, Alabama and feature an international cast - some enigmatic South Americans, a holocaust survivor, an elderly Cosa Nostra member and, oddest of all, a newspaper editor by the name of Wilson Abut (cited as co-author), who plays the tuba (abut reversed) and who presumably is fictitious (although you can never be sure). The most engaging character, however, is Bubba, the retired and none-too-bright pro footballer whose childlike enthusiasm makes its own contribution to the feeling that you've walked in on a meeting of friends, rather than a murder mystery. This is a book of contradictions. At no point did I fear for the lives of the main characters - they were obviously well loved by their creator, and apparently flawless - yet on another level I cared about what happened to them and their friends. There have been countless novels exploiting the dinner party as a backdrop to murder; this book sometimes seems to use murder as a good excuse for friends to get together for a bite to eat. I was left with a feeling of companionship and hospitality, and a strong sense of the author's fascination with the people and customs of South America.
Reviewed by Jim Sullivan, October 2004
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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