Queen of Bones

Set between Cubas twenty years apart, Havana native Teresa Dovalpage's new mystery features an unusual detective-an ex-cop turned Santeria priest and a familiar face from her acclaimed crime fiction debut, Death Comes in through the Kitchen. Juan, a Cuban construction worker who has settled in Albuquerque, returns to Havana for the first time since fleeing Cuba by raft twenty years ago. He is traveling with his American wife, Sharon, hoping to catch up with Victor, his best friend from college-and, unbeknownst to Sharon, discover what has become of two of his ex-girlfriends, Elsa and Rosita. Juan is surprised to discover that Victor has become Victoria, and runs a popular drag show at the local hot spot Caf. Arabia. Elsa has married a wealthy foreigner, and Rosita, still single, works at the Havana cemetery. When one of these women turns up dead, it will cost Padrino, a Santeria priest and former detective on the Havana police force, more than he expects to untangle the group's lies and hunt down a killer.