The Killing of the Saints by Alex Abella

The Killing of the Saints by Alex Abella

by Alex Abella

Book 1 in the Charlie Morell series
published 1991

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Appointed by the court to investigate a vicious murder in a downtown jewelry store, Charlie Morell, a Cuban-American, must confront his own guilty past while attempting to exonerate Ramon, a Cuban man accused of the crime.

In this first Cuban-American thriller, the action genre is reinvigorated with a stunning, brutally authentic tale of suspense and witchcraft, crime and the law in Latino Los Angeles. A story of mysterious sin, love and redemption, “The Killing of the Saints” explores the hidden life of that great western metropolis and its strange, seductive alliances. Charlie Morell, a court-appointed private investigator, is compelled to take on the case of two Cuban followers of the Voodoo-like “santería” cult accused of a vicious massacre in a downtown jewelry store.

But the ordinary thriller tradition is upended by the crucial role ethnic identity plays in this detective Kindle book. Charlie is himself Cuban, hiding in the City of Angels away from his own guilty secrets. His investigation of the case forces him to confront his past, exposing the real reasons Charlie abandoned his family, his wife, child and a
flourishing law practice in south Florida. Drawn to and helped by the lusty Lucinda, who has her own cloudy past, Charlie works hard, in spite of his instincts, to get his clients exonerated, precipitating a series of shocking surprises and a bloody climactic battle.

The language is brilliant and lush, the sex tropical, in this courtroom drama blazing with a realism seldom found in stories of the law. Here is a never-before-told tale by a new Cuban-American voice about a part of the country in the naked process of reinventing itself.

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