Vendor
	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Sebastian Ritscher
Original language
English
Categories
Crime & mystery fiction

BELLINI AND THE SPHINX

Tony Bellotto

The highly entertaining debut crime novel from Brazilian musical icon and best-selling author Bellotto.

An apparently simple adultery case turns into an intricate and suspense-filled plot with numerous twists and turns, and a surprising ending. Dr. Rafidjian, a renowned physician from São Paulo's old Armenian community, seeks out Detective Bellini, wishing to locate the call girl Ana Cíntia Lopes. But the client's brutal murder changes the course of the investigation. To confront the puzzle of several sphinxes, most of them female, private detective Remo Bellini plunges into the underworld of São Paulo.

TONY BELLOTTO is the author of the best-selling Bellini mystery novels, which have been released as major feature films and translated widely, establishing him as the preeminent writer of Brazilian detective fiction.

Available products
Book Published 2019-02-05 by Akashic Books - Brooklyn (USA)
Book Published 2019-02-05 by Akashic Books - Brooklyn (USA)

Comments

Tony Bellotto has written his novel in the best noir tradition. The book, in the style of Edgar Allan Poe, grips the reader from beginning to surprising end. Bellini and the Sphinx is a landmark in Western crime fiction.

Originally published in Portuguese in 1995, Bellotto's series opener introduces Remo Bellini, a private eye in the tradition of Spade and Marlowe but distinctively Brazilian... Bellotto's detective, less ironic and more earnest in his angst than his American counterparts, proves a compelling guide to the passionate world of Sao Paulo.

Previously published in Brazilian rock musician Bellotto's native country, the Sao Paolo-set noir follows private detective Remo Bellini, who is investigating the disappearance of several women connected to the underworld and the related murder of a famed surgeon. Bellotto says he modeled his PI on Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe, and that the plot, which involves prostitutes and live-sex performers, evokes two classically intertwined themes: sex and death.

If Marlowe and Harry Bosch are Los Angeles, Matt Scudder is New York and Maigret, Paris, the detective Remo Bellini is São Paulo's most complete translation.

Bellotto is one hell of a writer. With an elegant and quick narrative voice, he reaches a pinnacle of excellence and originality that's hard to find around here.