Dark Echoes of the Past

Chilean author Eterovic makes his English-language debut with this Chandleresque crime novel centered on a case about the human rights abuses that occurred in Chile in the years after Pinochet ousted Allende. In classic PI style, Heredia, a Santiago private investigator, looks into the death of a security guard at a lumberyard on the behalf of the victim’s sister. He follows clues through the mean streets of Santiago, slowly interviewing witnesses and suspects. The trail eventually leads back to the inmates and executioners of Villa Grimaldi, a torture camp, though the narrative emphasizes moral outrage rather than the violence. Along the way, the bookish Heredia associates with another investigator, who’s more inclined to use muscle than he is. He also has a cat named Simenon, who gets some dialogue, which inevitably gives the novel a soft-boiled edge. Imagine Philip Marlowe with a talking cat and lots of time to read, but still sleuthing and drinking, and you have Heredia. (Dec.)