Miami It's Murder (1994) by Edna Buchanan

 1,001 Novels:  A Library of America

Miami, It's Murder (1994)

by Edna Buchanan

Miami, Florida

Florida: 3/21

    I'm surprised at the lack of representation for Florida in the 1,001 Novels: A Library of America project.  Thirty titles for Louisiana and only twenty-one for Florida doesn't seem right.   I like the amount of detective fiction in this state, it's given me some Audiobook action including Miami, It's Murder, a paint by the numbers work of detective fiction with a Cuban American woman, the well named Britt Montero, a plucky newspaper reporter who solves crimes in her spare time.   Buchanan does a decent job with the scenery- there are plenty of moments where Montero takes a minute to describe what she's looking with almost photographic detail.   The cultural elements are less well addressed, with a Cuban immigrant rapist and some awkward Santeria material.  At nine hours it felt long, but some of that has to do with the plot twist that doesn't really emerge till the third act.