The Beggar's Opera

In beautiful, crumbling Old Havana, Canadian detective Mike Ellis hopes the sun and sand will help save his troubled marriage. He doesn’t yet know that it’s dead in the water—much like the little Cuban boy last seen begging the Canadian couple for a few pesos on the world famous Malecon. For Inspector Ricardo Ramirez, head of the Major Crimes Unit of the Cuban National Revolutionary Police, finding his prime suspect isn’t a problem—Cuban law is. He has only seventy-two hours to secure an indictment and prevent a vicious killer from leaving the island. But Ramirez also has his own troubles to worry about. He’s dying of the same dementia that killed his grandmother, an incurable disease that makes him see the ghosts of victims of unsolved murders. As he races against time, the dead haunt his every step …

Peggy Blair was a lawyer for more than thirty years. Her critically acclaimed mysteryThe Beggar’s Opera won the 2012 Scotiabank Giller Prize Readers’ Choice contest and was shortlisted for the Crime Writers Association Debut Dagger Award.The Poisoned Pawn is the second in the Inspector Ramirez series. Peggy lives in Ottawa.