A Miracle in Paradise

October 4, 1999
Smart, savvy Lupe Solano returns for murder, romance and another caf con leche in the fourth installment of Garc a-Agu lera's Miami-based series (Bloody Secrets, etc.). This time it's Lupe's sister Lourdes, who's a nun at the Order of the Holy Rosary, who presents the PI with a troubling mystery. Lourdes's Mother Superior hires Lupe to look into claims that on October 10, Cuban Independence Day, a miracle will take place when the holy statute of the Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre will cry tears over the separation of her people in Cuba and the U.S. Lupe has less than a month to find out who or what is behind this miracle, and if it will indeed take place. Her trusty sidekicks Nestor and Marisol, at first wary of the very notion of questioning the Catholic Church, assist Lupe in the investigation, digging into the suspicious activities of a group of Yugoslavian nuns who are undoubtedly tied into to the miracle. When corpses start turning up, Lupe knows she's involved in dangerous business, but her curiosity impels her to seek the truth. A memorable tale of Cuban-American life, this novel boasts an engaging plot and a fiery heroine armed with sharp insights into Cuban and Catholic ways that will lead readers happily into the sultry heat of Little Havana. Agent, Elizabeth Ziemska. (Oct.) FYI: Garc a-Agu lera, a former Miami PI, emigrated from Cuba to the U.S. in 1960.