Hotel Cartagena by Simone Buchholz

Good morning, readers. Today I'm a stop on the Random Things Blog Tour for Simone Buchholz's Hotel Cartagena!

A hotel bar has been besieged by armed men. Amongst the hostages are a prosecutor, a retired officer, and a handful of active police. 

Outside, their colleagues wait, hopeful they can put things to an end calmly and without losing some of their own people. 

Inside, things are becoming increasingly tense. 

Well, I didn't actually realize until today that Hotel Cartagena is actually the ninth book in a series. Huh! Fortunately, this latest from Simone Buchholz can be read easily on its own or as an introduction to the series as a whole. 

We begin with a few short chapters that set the tone for the book, if not the scene. These short, clippy chapters don't immediately make it clear what's going on, but we do soon learn that the plot is one of revenge. And while Chastity Riley is our narrator, she isn't so much the focus of the book. Instead, we're taken back to the eighties where we meet a German named Henning. 

Henning makes a life for himself in a not so legal venture and eventually lands in hot water. And he knows exactly who's to blame for his situation. His is a story that plays out through decades, leading to this one fateful night. 

Buchholz and her work are new to me. Her style is pretty unique, if this book is any indication, influenced no doubt by classic noir detective novels and movies. Translated from German by Rachel Ward, who has surely captured Buchholz's aesthetic wonderfully!

Hotel Cartagena is a fast paced, frenzied crime fiction that bounces from Germany to Colombia and back again. The plot moves back and forth between Chastity and Henning. Ultimately, though, it's Henning who takes the lead. Which again makes this one a great one to start with if, like me, you're new to Buchholz. 

If you do want to start from the beginning, though, there are only a handful translated into English so far. They are, in order:

Blue Night

Beton Rouge

Mexico Street

Hotel Cartagena

If you have the chance, Buchholz will be in conversation with fellow Orenda author Vanda Symon on Tuesday, March 30, to celebrate the launch of Symon's latest, Bound. 

Note: Hotel Cartagena is out now in the UK. It's out in the States in September and available for preorder now.