Sin Entrañas

Author: Maruja Torres
- Fiction
- Planeta Booket
- ISBN: 9788408112327
- Release Date: 04-10-2012
-Reviewed by: Madeline Peña

Sin entrañas by Maruja Torres is a well-written and entertaining whodunit police/detective mystery that keeps readers interested and eager to find out who did it? The main character, journalist-turned-detective Diana Dial, enlists the help of her friend, Inspector Fattush—a Lebanese police detective—to solve the mysterious death of a successful, wealthy and extravagant businessman and amateur Egyptologist during a private cruise on the Nile River. 

The book includes a rich and convincing cast of well-crafted characters, each relevant to the plot, and each a possible suspect in the death of the tycoon—including the fragile and always-suffering widow, the world-renowned Egyptologist, and even the sister who hired the sleuth to investigate the presumed crime. 

The backdrop of the story is a contemporary Egypt (2009) in times of economic hardships and political turmoil where vast contrasts exist between the rich and powerful, and the ones that depend on them. 

Overall Sin entrañas is a great mystery read with a plot and characters that make sense. The author does a great work at laying down the clues and scrutinizing each suspect, and at the end offers a resolution that is satisfying and not necessarily expected—that includes a new murder to solve.

As the mystery unveils Sin entrañas offers a mix of intrigues, twisted family secrets, infidelities, lies, broken hearts, manipulation, abuse of power, corruption, and servility, but treated in a not-so-serious and entertaining way. The author successfully blends the charm of Egypt with a peculiar group of suspects, and the wit of a mature Spanish female sleuth, and uses an enjoyably energetic tone with doses of humor resulting from the clever, candid, and irreverent personality of the main character.

This title is definitely suitable for English-language translation. The plot and multicultural characters are original and quaint—and so familiar at the same time. The detective mystery fiction category is hugely popular in the United States and Sin entrañas could offer a fresh approach and alternative to detective thrillers. 

Sin entrañas is inspired by the style of Agatha Christie—the author refers to Christie and to her famous character Hercules Poirot throughout the book. For an English-language translation Sin entrañas might benefit from a more suggestive title such as Christie’s “A Death in the Nile”. 

Sin entrañas is the second title in the Diana Dial series (there are a couple of references to the first title in the book), however it can undoubtedly be read as a stand-alone. 

 

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