The Beggar's Opera

by Peggy Blair

This book is written by a  Canadian lawyer who has experience both as a defence and prosecution attorney and with aboriginal law.

This is one of the best mysteries I have read in a long time. The story was very fast paced and had great tension because the accused has only a few days to prove he is innocent of a horrible crime when all the evidence seems to point at him. It is questionable if he will survive to a trial if he is put in a Cuban jail.






He insists that he has been framed, but he has to admit that he can't remember much about the previous night as he did his best to get drunk after his wife told him she is leaving him.  Was he that drunk?  Was he drugged?

The setting, in Cuba, with a quirky chief detective and head coroner, add to the appeal of the story. The detective thinks he is dying and is haunted by ghosts of his victims. Or, is he losing his mind as a result of his illness? The investigators have to conduct their investigations with shortages of supplies including gasoline for their vehicles.

The accused is a police officer from Ontario who is recovering from a brutal crime where his partner was killed and he was badly disfigured.  He is found to be innocent of the crime he is acused of in Cuba, but we find out he  is guilty of a serious crime. 

What impressed me the most was how successfully the author wove several stories together and then sewed up all the ends together so well. Sadly the story involved pedophilia. However, it was a book I couldn't put down.