Queen of Bones, Hardcover

Set between Cubas twenty years apart, Havana native Teresa Dovalpage's new mystery features an unusual detective--an ex-cop turned Santer a 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 Santer a priest and former detective on the Havana police force, more than he expects to untangle the group's lies and hunt down a killer.

Teresa Dovalpage was born in Havana, Cuba. She earned her BA in English literature and an MA in Spanish literature at the University of Havana, and her PhD in Latin American literature at the University of New Mexico. She is the author of twelve other works of fiction and three plays, and is the winner of the Rincón de la Victoria Award and a finalist for the Herralde Award. She lives in New Mexico.