The Black Minutes / Martin Solares 436 p.

In my quest to trot the globe via noir-ish detective fiction, I've moved from Scandinavia to Mexico. And boy, what a difference. Solares' first novel is a creepy, confusing mystery about little schoolgirls in a fictional coastal town who are abducted and dismembered. The plot covers 2 periods, the 1970s, when the crimes were committed, and the present, when an investigative reporter delving into the earlier cases is murdered. The plot is clever and detailed. I think Solares' main point is that Mexico was (or is?) colossally corrupt, and that this tends to interfere with the administration of justice in a big way. The 1970s police force is rife with graft, and the cops are brutal, towards one another and the public they serve. My biggest problem with the story is the almost total absence of female characters who still have their limbs. The main woman in the story is referred to as 'the girl'. The present day cop relates to his wife by trying to take her clothes off (and he's one of the good guys). Ah, machismo.