The Novel Detective by Teresa Dovalpage - #authorQ&A #blogtour

 In her metafictional mystery The Novel Detective (Soho Crime, July 2026), author Teresa Dovalpage steps directly into the pages of her own story. In this candid Q&A, she discusses ghosts, the underground secrets of 1980s Havana, and what happens when a mystery writer becomes her own protagonist.

The Blurb

A metafictional mystery set in Cuba past and present about a writer returning to her long-lost hometown, seeking the truth about two suspicious deaths.

2020: Teresa, a Cuban-born mystery writer now living in America, gets an unexpected call from her childhood best friend, Estrella, inviting her to Havana. Estrella is determined to get answers about a case that has haunted them both for decades: the purported murder-suicide of a teacher and a student at their high school. Though Teresa doesn’t quite understand why Estrella is taking the story so personally, she’s along for the ride—as she always wanted to write a novel about this case.

1980: Fourteen-year-old Teresita, bespectacled, awkward and mystery novel–obsessed, is “nosy, but not a tattletale.” She knows who’s been skimming off the top of the amphetamine stash in her mother’s pharmacy, which teacher keeps cyanide in his cabinet at school and that their classmate Yoyi is sleeping with their English teacher. Over the course of one fateful day, Teresita gets closer than ever to learning the “Truth of Life”—her catchall term for the intricacies of adult existence—even if it means coming face to face with death.

Directly inspired by the author’s own childhood in Cuba and adult life in the United States, drawing upon the tradition of Latin American magical realism, this is a resonant tale at once personal and universal, full of nostalgia, candor and danger. 

Welcome to the blog Teresa.

Q  In the 1980 timeline, Teresita is obsessed with finding the “Truth of Life.” What does that phrase mean to a fourteen-year-old in Havana?

A Teresita is at that awkward age where she’s no longer a child, but not yet an adult. For her, the “Truth of Life” is the secret code that adults use to navigate a world that she finds full of contradictions. It’s about understanding why a classmate meets with a teacher in a “tunnel of love” and discovering how enjoyable (or icky, as it turns out to be) it is to kiss a boy for the first time. Plus living in 1980 Cuba, she needs to understand how the world actually works once the revolutionary anthems stop playing.

Q  The book is described as metafictional. How does your perspective as a real-life mystery writer influence the way the fictional Teresa approaches the investigation?

A  It adds a layer of creative self-consciousness. The adult Teresa is investigating a crime while thinking about how the case would work as a literary plot. She’s analyzing clues like a mystery writer, looking for hidden reasons and character arcs, even as real-world Havana throws her curveballs that don’t fit into a neat three-act structure. It’s a story about a writer investigating a detective story, which allowed me to play with all the tropes of the genre.

Q We meet Teresita’s childhood best friend, Estrella, in both timelines. What role does she play in pushing the story forward?

A  Estrella is the ultimate catalyst. While teenage Teresita is the observer, Estrella is the one who takes things personally, gets into fights and acts out. In 1980, she’s the rebellious girl joking about the school’s “mustard and ketchup” uniforms and doing Santería ceremonies to attract a boy she likes. In the modern timeline, she’s the one who pulls Teresa back to the crime scene and asks her to find out what really happened. Every detective needs a partner who provides the emotional stakes, and for Teresa, that’s always been Estrella.

Q  Teresita knows some dangerous secrets, like who is stealing amphetamines in the pharmacy where her mother works and the affair between a teacher and a student. How much of this was a reality for students in Cuba back then?

A  When a society is highly monitored, the underground thrives. Growing up, things like black-market jeans, diverted pharmacy supplies, inflated grades, and banned Beatles songs were just part of daily life. We had a saying back then: “Whatever is not prohibited is compulsory.” I wanted The Novel Detective to capture that exact tension. Behind the facade of perfect socialist behavior demanded by teachers like Irma, absolutely everyone had a secret they were desperate to protect.

Q  What do you hope readers take away from your specific blend of Cuban nostalgia and atmospheric mystery?

A   I hope readers see that nostalgia isn’t always sunny. You can miss the place you grew up while still acknowledging the shadows that lurked there. I wanted to portray a Havana that is still beautiful, but one that is also crumbling and facing immense shortages and hardships. Ultimately, I want readers to walk away feeling like they’ve spent time in the Manzana de Gómez, both as tourists in a luxury hotel, and as students who know exactly where the “tunnels of love” lead.

Thank you so much for being on the blog today, Teresa.

Book Details

ISBN: 978 1641298285

Publisher: Soho Crime

Formats: e-book and hardback

No. of Pages: 333 (hardback)

Purchase Links

Bookshop.org

Amazon UK

Amazon US

About the Author

Teresa Dovalpage is the author of fourteen novels, four collections of short stories in English and Spanish, and four theatre plays. Her Havana Mystery series, published by Soho Crime, began with Death Comes in through the Kitchen (2018). Subsequent novels include Queen of Bones (2019) named by NBC News as one of the ten best books by and about Latinos of the year; Death of a Telenovela Star (2020); Death under the Perseids (2021), and Last Seen in Havana (2024) which Sarah Weinman praised in The New York Times for exploring “how familial bonds can fray, yet manage to hold steady, across the decades.” Last Seen in Havana was also an Amazon Editor’s Pick for Best Mystery, Thriller, and Suspense. The Novel Detective is a metafictional mystery inspired by the author’s own childhood in Cuba and adult life in the United States.

You can also find Teresa at:

Author Website

Facebook

Instagram

(media courtesy of Rachel's Random Resources)

(all opinions are my own)

(Bookshop.org affiliated)

Reading Roundup for March 2025

 

It has been so lovely to see the sun shine for the last few days. It seems to make people so much happier and more cheerful. Also, the clocks went forward over the weekend and I am looking forward to the lighter evenings. It's so good to feel that winter is behind us now.

Here is the list of books which I have read. What have you all been reading this month?

Death of a Dancing Queen by Kimberly G. Giarratano

I loved the main character in this book. She is private investigator, Billie Levine who is struggling with her work whilst caring for her mother. You can find my review by clicking here.

The Bookseller by Valerie Keogh

I am always excited when a new novel by Valerie Keogh comes along. I have read several and they never disappoint.  You can find my review by clicking here.

The Undesirables: The Law That Locked Away a Generation by Sarah Wise

Through the early twentieth century, the British Government locked away over 50,000 innocent people. Their ‘crimes’? Being poor and unyielding. This is their story. This was excellent and well worth reading. I was unable to write a review for this one but you can find more about this book here.

Mother Howl by Craig Clevenger

It took me a little while to warm to this book, but it was well worth hanging in there.  You can find my review by clicking here.

Broken Water by Nick Perry

This was such an interesting literary book to read. You can find my review by clicking here.

Cat and Dumpling: Home Sweet Home by Nicola Kent

This is a charming book that will appeal to early readers. You can find my review by clicking here.

Reunion by Fred Ulman

Although I haven't written a review of this one it was my favourite book of the month. A powerful novella about two German boys growing up in 1933; one from German Aristocracy, the other a Jew. Outstanding. You can find out more about the book here.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

I thought this was a fabulous book. It was steeped in glamour and made for a luscious read.  You can find my review by clicking here.

Murder on the Oxford Canal by Faith Martin

An enjoyable first book in the DI Hillary Green series.  You can find more about the book by clicking here.

(all opinions are my own)

(Bookshop.org affiliated)

Fourteen Days - Edited by Margaret Atwood and Douglas Preston - #bookreview

 

Call me 1A. I'm the super of a building on Rivington Street on the Lower East Side of New York City. It's a six-floor walk-up with the farcical name of the Fernsby Arms, a decaying crapshack tenement that should have been torn down long ago. It's certainly not keeping up with the glorious yuppification of the neighbourhood...

***

Set in a New York apartment building, Fourteen Days is an irresistibly propulsive novel with an unusual twist: each character in this diverse, eccentric cast of neighbours has been secretly written by a different, major literary voice - from Margaret Atwood and John Grisham to Emma Donoghue and Celeste Ng.

One week into lockdown, the tenants of a run-down apartment building in Manhattan have begun to gather on the rooftop each evening and tell stories. With each passing night, more and more neighbours gather, bringing chairs and milk crates and overturned pails. Gradually the tenants – some of whom have barely spoken to each other before now – become real neighbours.

A dazzling, heartwarming and ultimately surprising narrative, Fourteen Days is an ode to the power of storytelling and human connection.

Includes writing from: Charlie Jane Anders, Margaret Atwood, Jennine Capo Crucet, Pat Cummings, Joseph Cassara, Angie Cruz, Sylvia Day, Emma Donoghue, Dave Eggers, Diana Gabaldon, Tess Gerritsen, John Grisham, Maria Hinojosa, Mira Jacob, Erica Jong, CJ Lyons, Celeste Ng, Tommy Orange, Mary Pope Osborne, Doug Preston, Alice Randall, Caroline Randall, Ishmael Reed, Roxana Robinson, Nelly Rosario, James Shapiro, Hampton Sides, R.L. Stine, Nafissa Thompson-Spires, Monique Truong, Scott Turow, Luis Alberto Urrea, Rachel Vail, Weike Wang, DeShawn Charles Winslow, Meg Wolitzer.

***

This is a really unusual collaborative work that has been put together by Margaret Atwood and Douglas Preston. It made for an interesting read that I enjoyed.

With contributions by thirty six American and Canadian authors, some more recognisable here in the UK than others, it is a collection of anecdotes from the various residents of an apartment block, who meet on the roof of the building during the covid pandemic and subsequent lockdown. Socially distanced from one another they share stories. All proceeds went to the Authors Guild Foundation to support writers during the pandemic.

In all honesty, some of these stories were better than others. I particularly enjoyed Celeste Ng's story of her Chinese grandmother who cursed people by writing their name on a scrap of paper and encasing it within an ice cube tray before placing it in her freezer. They have to remain frozen or the curse will be lifted.

It is an impressive experimental form of writing and appealed to me for its unique form. There may have been similar things done before but I cannot recall any and so enjoyed this for it's format. Of the stories which appealed to me most, I have been encouraged to seek out further writing by those particular authors.

Although this book is not going to appeal to everybody, I would encourage you to read it. I would love to hear your thoughts on this experimental literary book.

ISBN: 978 1784745455

Publisher:  Chatto & Windus

Formats:  e-book, audio and hardback

No. of Pages:  384 (hardback)

The Binding by Bridget Collins - #BookReview

"When the letter came I was out in the fields, binding up my last sheaf of wheat with hands that were shaking so much I could hardly tie the knot. It was my fault we'd had to do it the old-fashioned way, and I'd be damned if I was going to give up now; I had battled through the heat of the afternoon, blinking away the patches of darkness that flickered at the side of my vision, and now it was nightfall and I was almost finished."

Imagine you could erase your grief. Imagine you could forget your pain. Imagine you could hide a secret. Forever.

Emmett Farmer is working in the fields when a letter arrives summoning him to begin an apprenticeship. He will work for a Bookbinder, a vocation that arouses fear, superstition and prejudice - but one neither he nor his parents can afford to refuse.

He will learn to hand-craft beautiful volumes, and within each he will capture something unique and extraordinary: a memory. If there's something you want to forget, he can help. If there's something you need to erase, he can assist. Your past will be stored safely in a book and you will never remember your secret, however terrible.

In a vault under his mentor's workshop, row upon row of books - and memories - are meticulously stored and recorded.

Then one day Emmett makes an astonishing discovery: one of them has his name on it.

The Binding is an unforgettable, magical novel: a boundary-defying love story with a unique literary event.

* * *

I have so many good things to say about this book that I hardly know where to begin. The concept of this book had me captivated from the very beginning and each page drew me further and further in. In fact, I flew through it within a couple of days and I enjoyed every word.

It is a difficult book to pin down to a particular genre as it has so many different elements swirling around within it's covers. It is part love story and part magical realism and it is all set within an unspecified historical setting.

The characters were well crafted and came alive on the page. It was easy to feel involved in their passions and disappointments. Excellent and well written characters in every way.

The setting and atmosphere elevated this book well above the ordinary. It has a cinematic quality to it and I would be surprised if the film rights are not picked up at some point as it would transfer to the screen very well. 

Ms. Collins is a skilled storyteller and created a book that is thought provoking and original. I will remember this book for a long time as, despite it's fantastical basis, the human emotions were one's that we can all readily identify with. I highly recommend it.

ISBN: 978 0008272111

Publisher: The Borough Press

* * *

About the Author:

Bridget Collins trained as an actor at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art after reading English at King's College, Cambridge. She is the author of seven acclaimed books for young adults and has had two plays produced, one at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The Binding is her first adult novel.