Barbacoa, Bomba, and Betrayal by Raquel V. Reyes
What's It About?
If you've never sat at the bar where the Pina Colada was invented and sipped the coconut goodness while watching the palm trees sway in the wind, this book will get you quite close to that feeling.Set against the vibrant background of Puerto Rico, Raquel V. Reyes’s Barbacoa, Bomba, and Betrayal (Crooked Lane Books) is the third in the Carribean Kitchen Mystery series and is a fun read for lovers of food, friendship and culture.
This book finds food anthropologist Miriam, very pregnant with her second child, on an unexpected work trip to Puerto Rico. As host of a Spanish-language food and culture program based in Miami, she has become a celebrity in some circles. She is committed to using her voice to raise awareness of food’s role in one’s cultural heritage.
Trouble in Paradise
She finds herself in Puerto Rico during great excitement and strife. Still recovering from Hurricane Maria, the community is divided about mainland developers coming to the island, snapping up property from long-time local owners, preying on financial hardships, and sometimes actively creating situations that force owners to sell.
Miriam feels helpless as this affects her friends in Puerto Rico and her parents in the Dominican Republic. Compounding the problem is the appearance of a cast of unscrupulous individuals — a Bitcoin investment leader, her best friend’s mysterious new boyfriend, suspicious police officers and anti-investment protesters.
As Miriam explores the rich and delicious foods of Puerto Rico, she must also unravel the mystery surrounding real estate investments that are putting her friends and family in peril. There is a mysterious buyer snapping up real estate across the city and some building owners have died mysteriously and others are actively being threatened. When Miriam fears that her close friends may have been unwittingly brought into the criminal activities, she must take action to uncover the truth and save those she loves.
More Than a Mystery
I have not (yet) had the pleasure of reading the first two books in this series. Still, I could tell that Miriam, Alma, Jorge and Lucas had been through challenges that had solidified their relationships and that Robert and Miriam’s marriage had evolved from book to book. I enjoyed how her husband recognized the importance of Miriam’s friendships and helped her to prioritize those. It was also clear that, after multiple adventures, he was beyond trying to prevent his wife from involving herself in harrowing situations.
Although this book has the real estate/Bitcoin story as a throughline, it takes a back seat. The book really shines in painting a picture of Puerto Rican culture, food and landscape.
I was lucky enough to spend time in Old San Juan last year. Reyes’s prose transported me right back to the azure blue skies, lush lawns, flavored ice treats, small family-run restaurants, and stunning architecture of this complex community. The book also addresses the history of colonization and complicated hurricane recovery, leaving vast portions of the country unrecognizable and struggling with basic services years later while focusing on the genuinely vibrant community.
Also, if you’ve never sat at the bar where the Pina Colada was invented and sipped the coconut goodness while watching the palm trees sway in the wind, this book will get you quite close to that feeling.
Left Hungry For More
Reyes’s writing flows effortlessly between English and Spanish, giving readers a real sense of the bilingual life that Miriam leads. Although not a Spanish speaker myself, Reyes could convey the meaning of Spanish dialogue without translating it directly for readers, which created a whole new reading experience that was very satisfying.
A special surprise to me was that, after reading three hundred pages, much of which was dedicated to detailed descriptions of Puerto Rican cuisine, the author includes recipes for numerous dishes that appear throughout the book. I’ve already planned several that I am going to make.
Overall, this was a lovely novel about food and culture with a taste of mystery that left me hungry for more in this charming series.
About Raquel V. Reyes:
Raquel V. Reyes writes Latina protagonists. Her Cuban-American heritage, Miami, and Spanglish feature prominently in her work. Mango, Mambo, and Murder, the first in the Caribbean Kitchen Mystery series, won a Lefty for Best Humorous Mystery. It was nominated for an Agatha Award and optioned for film. Raquel’s short stories appear in various anthologies, including The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2022. Find her across social media platforms as @LatinaSleuths and on her website LatinaSleuths.com
