Chilean writer Isabel Allende has made her first incursion in crime fiction with her new book Ripper.
The blurb reads: The Jackson women, Indiana and Amanda, have always had each other. Though their bond is strong, mother and daughter are as different as night and day. Indiana, a beautiful holistic healer, is a free-spirited bohemian. Long divorced from Amanda’s father, she’s reluctant to settle down with either of the men who want her—Alan, the wealthy scion of one of San Francisco’s elite families, and Ryan, an enigmatic, scarred former Navy SEAL.
While her mom looks for the good in people, Amanda is fascinated by the dark side of human nature—as is her father, the SF PD’s deputy chief of homicide. Brilliant and introverted, the MIT-bound high school senior Amanda is a natural-born sleuth addicted to crime novels and to Ripper, the online mystery game she plays with her beloved grandfather and friends around the world.
When a string of strange murders occurs across the city, Amanda plunges into her own investigation, probing hints and deductions that elude the police department. But the case becomes all too personal when Indiana suddenly vanishes. Could her mother’s disappearance have something to do with the series of deaths? Now, with her mother’s life on the line, Amanda must solve the most complex mystery she’s ever faced before it’s too late.
Isabel Allende website (in English)
A Crime is Afoot 
That’s interesting – I’ve read a number of her books and had varying reactions to them. She certainly always tries out new styles. This sounds as though it might be a goodie.
Moira – I have good recollections of The House of the Spirits mainly, but I must confess have not read any of her latest novels, though I agree with you this sounds good.
It’s been a while since I read anythign by Allende but this is an interesting departure – thanls Jose Ignacio.
You’re welcome Sergio. There is some controversy around Isabel Allende’s opinions on crime fiction, but if you read it I will certainly like to find out what you think of it.