Ramon Diaz Eterovic is one of the best known writers of crime stories in Chile, where the exploits of his private investigator Heredia are very popular. This was the first of his novels to be translated into English and a welcome addition to the genre. I don’t read many crime novels myself and when I do I particularly enjoy those set in other countries as so often you can learn a lot about another culture through its tales of crime. And this one was no exception. One day Guzman Reyes is gunned down and murdered outside his work and it seems that the police are happy to consider it a botched robbery. However his sister is convinced it had more sinister motives and persuades Heredia to take on the investigation, and inevitably there is indeed a dark background to the murder. Chile’s dictatorship and military rule is only slowly and reluctantly being forced to account for the crimes committed by the Pinochet regime, and Reyes’ murder is just one small part of a tangled web of revenge and demands for justice. I enjoyed the book very much. Heredia is a quirky character – as all good detectives are doomed to be – and a wide cast of diverse characters people the pages. It’s a relatively lightweight novel, even humorous at times, but doesn’t shy away from confronting the grim reality of the past that still haunts the country. A good read.

This is the first book I have read from this author and I am quite pleased. Cannot wait to read more.

Dark Echoes of the Past is about private investigator Heredia who spends his days reading detective novels; commiserating with his cat, Simenon; and peering out over the Mapocho River from his Santiago apartment. The city he loves may be changing, but Heredia can’t stop chasing the ghosts of the past. This time, they’ve come to him…

Interesting storyline and well-crafted characters.

Interesting for all the political and historical details, but the story itself is similar to many I have read before. Part of the problem might be because this is the translation literature and I know very little about Chile, so I might be missing important background information and/or feelings.

Eterovic is a rather popular crime fiction writer in Chile and has published at least fifteen Heredia detective novels in Spanish as well as putting out Heredia television episodes. Eterovic is not shy about giving credit to the long line of private eyes that Heredia evolved from and throughout this novel we find a Heredia constantly picking up private eye novels and paying homage to great literary private eye writers like Hammett. One interesting quirk is that not only does Heredia chat with his cat, but the cat chats back.

This story starts out with Heredia being asked to investigate a killing of a lumber yard worker, which the deceased man's sister suspects is something else, but what she doesn't know. Chile, as beautiful and prosperous as it is now, is a country haunted by its past, a past where in the Seventies army officers worked out of a secret building known for the most bizarre tortures. The officers involved have often decades later disappeared into society and there are some victims and their families who still yearn to bring these evil ones to justice just as the famous Nazi hunters have done. It is into this maelstrom that Heredia ventures.

It is often a quiet patient investigation as Heredia pokes around here and there until like a lightning strike he realizes the connections.

This book was translated and was done very well The plot was good and very well written. I loved that the detective has conversations with his cat. This was an enjoyable read.
Many thanks to Amazon Crossing and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I just finished reading Dark Echoes of the Past by author Ramón Díaz Eterović, which was translated by Patrick Blaine

This is the 13th book in The Heredia Detective Series, but the first one translated for English readers

A book which takes place in Santiago Chile, around 30 years after the fall of the Pinochet dictatorship

Even though I had not read any of the previous books in the series, I could easily follow along and quickly get into the story

Great writing, with a gritty and intriguing story

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my advanced copy!

As a leaf out of the very real consequences of military dictatorship it sours, as a thriller not so much. Still, good one to read. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC.

Memorable lines:
page 14
- I sat on the bed and lit a cigarette that I smoked slowly, trying to imagine the feelings of the man who had lived in that room."
page 21
"Death silences everything. The victims and the guilty are covered by the same earth and swept away by the same rain that washes the tombstones until nothing is left. Had something united Ginelli and German Reyes in life? Time passed and erased the signs iof the scheming coup, the echo of screams, the cruelty of the executioner, the complicity of the judges, the twisted ink of the papers. "The dead are forgotten, their memory crushed by the passing years and words half-spoken. And the pain? The fear? The humiliation? What good was the truth if it didn’t bring back the dead or take away the nightmares of the survivors? In silence, and with no other witness besides Simenon, I remembered Campbell’s words and asked myself about the meaning of the flyer on which Ginelli’s name had been printed. I had a hunch that there was a message embedded in that scrap of paper, but not in the simple way I had imagined it. Time disfigures words and actions."
page 29
- I deduced that he was waiting for the best moment to formally introduce his fists to my body."
page 30
“Without debt, you’re nobody these days, Heredia. If I were you, I’d be worried.”"
page 42
“I remember that truth was in the air, within reach of everyone.”"
page 58
“The few military personnel who have been convicted were sent to prisons with pools, tennis courts, cable television and other privileges that your other run-of-the-mill criminal doesn’t get.”
page 64
- Guilt, forgetfulness, fear, complicity, indifference. Horror turned into a few ambiguous sentences in the history books."
page 101
- I put away the notes, said goodbye to the pastry that was still uneaten on the table, and thought about the next piece that I would move on my chessboard of ghosts."
page 246
- “Justice is slow and every day that we delay the investigation helps us destroy evidence and cover our tracks.”
page 251:
- “Mistrust, Anselmo. One time they fucked up our lives, and I haven’t forgotten about it.”"

Heredia is a private detective working in Santiago. Things are slow until his girlfriend introduces him to Virginia, who wants him to investigate the death of her brother. The brother, Reyes, was killed in the course of a robbery, but Virginia thinks there is more to it.

Heredia takes on the case and soon turns up the fact the Reyes was a political prisoner during the Pinochet regime. Things get murkier from there, as he seeks to unearth an ugly past that plenty of people would like to forget.

This could have been quite a grim novel, but Eterovic manages to write with a light, almost breezy touch. Heredia loves to read, which enables the author to sneak in references to his favourite works. Heredia also discusses the case with his cat, who answers back and gives him advice. This is not your ordinary detective fiction; it's a skilful blend of noirish themes with a pacy and crisp narrative style and a touch of magic realism.

I love a good novel set in South America. There's something about novels set here that really get me wanting more. It's the setting, the heat, the passion and the way of life, the people...everything about this region of the world seems to add that little added air of excitment to my reading.

Having read many Spanish language books, I was keen to read this one in English. I've bought this author's other novels based on this one - more need to be translated now!

It's a gem of a novel and very visual - so much so it could be a TV program in the making. Heredia is your classic PI working in the backstreets and back offices of Santiago. He cares deeply about what he does despite his rather lazy attitude to life or is it world weariness? He likes the bottle, but he likes books more it would seem as he's forever reading inbetween cases. He has a cat called Simenon! Could I love this character any more?

IF that character doesn't' grab you , then the setting surely will. The blend of 1950s Noir scenes in offices and in street confrontations blend nicely with the modern day problems which form the background to the novel. The story is set in present day Chile with a legacy of problems beginning with a capital P. That's P for Pinochet. The man in La Moneda Palace may have gone, but his legacy remains and there's a lot of secrets, dark stains on society and trouble in his wake. The police seem to have more to deal with than just crimes any other city has to deal with, but Heredia is keen that his case is not going to be lost underneath the rubble of history.

This is  meaty, gritty and chewy Chilean feast. It's ingredients are delicious - history, war crimes, dictatorship and the behaviour of the military, modern society, Chile's transformation to democracy and more.

It's all very vividly drawn and brilliantly executed. This is an exciting series and I'm going to cheat and read the other ones in Spanish but I hope there's some English translations soon.

The One with the Cat-Loving Chilean Sam Spade
Ramón Díaz Eterovic, Dark Echoes of the Past (Spanish, La oscura memoria de las armas, 2008, English 2017)

I rarely read any South-American books, so I jumped on the opportunity to discover a Chilean mystery by a very popular writer in his home country, the first novel of a series to be translated into English. I wasn’t disappointed!

Heredia, the hero and narrator, is a classic gumshoe, a P.I. working (and reading books between cases) in a decrepit building of Santiago, Chile. Heredia could be Philip Marlowe’s Southern cousin, because he’s a bit lazy, hard-drinking, world-weary, isn’t opposed to some violence here and there and waxing philosophical after the occasional beating, but he’s a lot more well-read. His cat is called Simenon, who talks back to Heredia on occasion, and the references to 1950s noirs are everywhere.

Except that it’s 21st century Chile and not the early 20th century America. And Chilean history is full of skeletons in the closet, with the transition to democracy after Pinochet’s fascist regime leaving a lot of unpalatable truths in its wake. The case Heredia takes on in this book has been closed by the police as a burglary gone wrong, but the victim’s sister is convinced that there is more to it.

The mystery is slow-paced, but it gave me time to enjoy the setting (Heredia obviously loves his home town) and the historical details, especially how old military have blended back into society at the end of the dictatorship without having been named and shamed. As Heredia is more of an archetype of the classic P.I., I wouldn’t say that the novel is highly realistic but it is entertaining and informative. I would gladly read another Heredia mystery.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.

“I want to silence the echoes of the past that I can’t stop hearing.”

I enjoyed parts of this book that remarked on Chile’s history and culture, but apart from that "Dark Echoes of the Past" was a letdown for me.

I didn’t like the main character, a private detective Mr. Heredia, who seemed like some kind of dinosaur from the old noir fiction. Through the whole book he was in a permanent state of existential crisis. All days he slept, suffered from bad memories and the general pain of existence. Every day he drank rivers of alcohol and smoked cigarette after cigarette. He was the ultimate macho man. He had trouble with expressing his feelings, knew how to take a beating and refused to go to a hospital when he was wounded. He refused to use mobile phones, faxes or computers. He carried an old Beretta with him and mused continually on a poor state of things. Also he talked with his cat Simenon and the cat replied him. It made me worried about both him and his cat.

The author wrote about the time after the government of Salvador Allende was overthrown and Chile was ruled by the military. During that time many people were detained and tortured. Some of them were killed and some disappeared without a trace. In a place called Villa Grimaldi ‘some 4,500 people were detained and tortured’. According to official information that were revealed years later 226 people were ‘either killed or disappeared from Villa Grimaldi’.

The main character detective Heredia investigated a murder of a man, who survived Villa Grimaldi but couldn’t let go of the past and worked to undercover crimes committed there and to bring his torturers to justice. It all seems very interesting, but unfortunately, "Dark Echoes of the Past" is the most boring crime-novel I have ever read. There was more alcohol drinking, cigarette smoking, talking with a cat and redundant intellectual musings, than conducting a proper investigation. That Heredia found out the truth at the end was a real wonder.

I am glad that I read this book, because I enjoy discovering different authors and reading about history of different countries, but it was really boring at times.

I received "Dark Echoes of the Past" from the publisher via NetGalley. I would like to thank the author and the publisher for providing me with the advance reader copy of the book.

4 stars
Attention cat lovers!! This book was written for you. Heredia is a Santiago, Chile private detective who makes much of his income by writing reviews of books that he reads. He also talks to his cat, Simenon, and Simenon talks back to him. Virginia Reyes asks him to investigate the murder of her brother, German. The police have written it off as a robbery gone wrong. Heredia investigates and suspects that the murder has to do with German's arrest and torture under the Pinochet dictatorship. German had been trying to find out who tortured him. They wore masks and used false names, but he is determined.
Heredia does solve the case with some unorthodox help from another detective, Montegon.
I thought that the translation was very good. This book has some interesting information on Chilean society.
Some quotes:
Santiago coffee shops--"...the cafes con plemas--'coffee with legs,' where drinks are served by waitresses in high heels and miniskirts..."
Book reviewing-- "Boredom was eating away at my skin like voracious bacteria, and I was still stuck on the first page of the book I was trying to review. It was as seductive as a drunk's breath the morning after."
Chilean past-- "It's not my fault there are so many times between the past and the present. History can't be left behind, especially when the picture is drawn in blurred lines,..."
Cat conversation-- "I said to him, 'Haven't you ever asked yourself what your life would be like if you had a master who came home every day and the riskiest thing he did was cross the street?'
'Dont't screw with me, Heredia, you know I'm used to your foolishness."
Thanks to AmazonCrossing for sending me this e book through NetGalley.

First published in Chile in 2008; published in translation by AmazonCrossing on December 1, 2017

Dark Echoes of the Past takes place in Santiago. The Pinochet dictatorship has ended, but as the book’s title suggests, it has not been forgotten. Or perhaps too many people have forgotten it too quickly.

Heredia is a private investigator. He rarely has clients so he earns a meager living reviewing books about politics or economics. His girlfriend’s former math teacher wants him to investigate her brother’s death. Her brother, Germán Reyes, was shot in the street, but his money was left untouched, suggesting that the police are wrong in believing the crime was an ordinary robbery.

Reyes was tortured during the Pinochet dictatorship, but that was long ago, so why should he now be murdered? The only clue from a search of the dead man’s apartment is a flyer that mentions Werner Ginelli, a doctor. Many years earlier, a “performance art” group outed Ginelli for his role as a torturer, but again, what does that have to do with the murder?

When one of Reyes’ co-workers starts asking questions about him, the co-worker also dies, giving Heredia another line of investigation. The mystery, of course, leads to the past, and to torturers who have avoided justice. The story reveals the ways in which military governments, like civil wars, pit family members against each other as they choose sides in a national conflict. It also discusses the role that Chilean military officers played in making international black market arms deals. And it makes the point, relevant in every time and nation, that: “Sometimes truth and justice move in opposite directions.”

Heredia spends more time philosophizing than detecting. He also carries on conversations with his sarcastic cat. Sometimes the cat is wiser than Heredia. Sometimes Heredia comes across as a bit pretentious; other times, he has something to say (particularly about people who support authoritarian government) that is worth the reader’s time. Like many South American intellectuals, Heredia makes a point of telling other characters that he keeps South American poetry alive by reading it. My impression is that he likes to talk about reading it more than he likes to read it.

Heredia’s personality is also too determinedly noir. He comes across as someone who wants to model himself after Humphrey Bogart playing Philip Marlowe or Sam Spade. That isn’t a bad model, but Heredia struck me as a self-satisfied poser, not as a true noir character. I recognize, however, that my feelings might be different if I knew more about the norms of Chilean culture.

Fortunately, I liked the story more than I liked Heredia or his philosopher cat. The mystery branches in several directions before the reader learns the full truth. The truth sheds light on Chile’s dark past, but also on human nature. All of that easily overcomes the annoying nature of the central character.

RECOMMENDED

This is the first book I have read by Ramón Díaz Eterovic.
It is always tricky to read a book that has been translated into English from another language because some words and means will not always be the same.

This book is one that feels as if it was lost in translation though out the book.
The history was fascinating and I can't wait to learn more about this time in Chile. The story has moments that will grab readers and other times they will feel lost in the story.
Thank you to Netgalley for the copy of Dark Echoes of the Past

#RamónDíazEterovic. #NetGalley

Dark Echoes of the Past was first published in 2008, and translated into English for US publication in 2017. Ramon Eterovic tells of the lingering problems and pain experienced in Chile long after their troubles resulting from the coup d'etat beginning in 1973. This was a very interesting read, and awoke in me a desire to know more about the history here. When the coup began, encouraged by President Nixon, Chile was the only nation in South America with a democratic government. Following the coup, from Sept 1973 through the 1990's there was continuing turmoil with torture and 'disappearing' happening and all communications, newspapers, and news outlet controlled by the acting government. This novel highlights some of the difficulties in daily living and establishing trust for Chileans in all walks of life into the 21st century. Private detective Heredia is an interesting character, one I would like to visit again.

I received a free electronic copy of this novel from Netgalley, Ramon Diaz Eterovic, translator Patrick Blaine, and AmazonCrossing in exchange for an honest review. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me.