2012 Crime Fiction Alphabet, J is for Jimenez, Georgina Jimenez

This week the Crime Fiction Alphabet makes its stop on letter ” j”. Despite Kerrie’s opinion that this week’s  letter J is probably fairly easy, I found extremely difficult to come up with a Spanish crime fiction writer whose surname begins with a “J”.

Finally I found a Cuban writer, whose book I have not read, called Jimenez, Georgina Jimenez. The interesting thing is that she is a late writer and wrote her first and only book, as far as I know, based on her childhood memories, which should have certainly haunted throughout her life.

Georgina Jimenez lives in her native Havana, where she was a professor of History and Philosophy until she became a journalist specializing in education and publishing various essays and a book on the subject. After leaving journalism, she wrote Habana Negra,  her first novel, which was published in Spain by Texto Editores in 2007.  She has also been published in Holland, Sijthoff, and in Italy, Kowalski Editore.  She is currently working on another novel, the story of which takes place in Havana before 1959, the year of the revolution. (Dos Passos agencia literaria y comunicación in collaboration with Guillermo Schavelzon & Asociados Agencia Literaria)

Book Description: The passionate, turbulent, bewitched lives of Caridad Wong and her daughter, Patricia Logan, represent much more than two successive generations: they tell about life in the first half of the twentieth century in the city of Havana, which fosters many myths, ghosts, and all superstitions possible. From the happy 1920’s, with the merry lightheartedness of a certain economic bonanza, through the decade following the Second World War, Habana negra takes the reader through a unique space with the vibrant story of two women who always want what they do not have, love those who do not love them, and pledge themselves to the most occult and ominous forces. Georgina Jiménez combines her restless, rhythmic style here with a suspenseful story full of surprises.The result is a powerful narrative that deals with the mafia, black magic, spectacular cabaret shows, the attraction and rejection of the Cuban spirit, and also betrayals, secret loves, and loves that destroy. (Guillermo Schavelzon & Asociados Agencia Literaria)

Dossier de Prensa pdf. (in Spanish)

The Crime Fiction Alphabet 2012 is a Community Meme hosted by Kerrie at Mysteries in Paradise. By Friday of each week participants try to write a blog post about crime fiction related to the letter of the week. Click HERE to visit the contribution of other fellow bloggers.