Silver Bullets

Culiac%C3%A1n, the capital of the Mexican state of Sinaloa%E2%80%94where "gangsta-wraps" (slain narco soldiers swathed in blankets) are found next to the roadside almost daily%E2%80%94provides the deadly backdrop for Mendoza's English-language debut, a straightforward crime novel set in 2006. The authorities call in Det. Edgar "Lefty" Mendieta on a possible homicide and a suicide, but since there are connections to drugs, they instruct him to hand the cases over to Narcotics%E2%80%94even though killings are occurring using silver bullets. Assisted by a spunky female sidekick, Lefty carries on, haunted by memories of having been molested as a child and the return of a femme fatale from his past. This mystery won the Tusquets Prize for best Spanish-language crime novel in 2007, but American readers may find Lefty's by-the-book investigations overly familiar. In addition, the dialogue mingles with the exposition, without quotation marks, so otherwise simple passages often prove more opaque than need be. (Jan.)