Death Comes in through the Kitchen

by Teresa Dovalpage Narrated by Cynthia Farrell

Overview

Set in Havana during the Black Spring of 2003, a charming but poison-laced culinary mystery reveals the darker side of the modern Revolution, complete with authentic Cuban recipes Havana, Cuba, 2003: Matt, a San Diego journalist, arrives in Havana to marry his girlfriend, Yarmila, a 24-year-old Cuban woman whom he first met through her food blog. But Yarmi isn't there to meet him at the airport, and when he hitches a ride to her apartment, he finds her lying dead in the bathtub. Lovelorn Matt is immediately embroiled in a Cuban adventure he didn't bargain for: the police and secret service have him down as their main suspect, and in an effort to clear his name, he must embark on his own investigation into what happened to Yarmila. The more Matt learns about his erstwhile fiancee, though, the more he realizes he had no idea who she was at all-but did anyone?

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

★ 02/05/2018
At the start of this dazzling culinary mystery from Dovalpage (The Astral Plane), laid-back, spiritually shambolic 36-year-old San Diego, Calif., reporter Matt Sullivan arrives in Cuba just before the 2003 Black Spring crackdown on dissidents, not to investigate human rights violations but to marry (he hopes) 24-year-old food blogger Yarmila Portal, whom he mostly knows through online interactions. But Yarmi doesn’t meet him at the airport, and in dizzying succession, Matt discovers her body in a running shower in her Havana apartment, lands in police custody, and learns from Lt. Marlene Martinez that Yarmi had a young lover, Pato Macho. In a typically rich scene, both laugh-aloud funny and bone-chilling, Matt is grilled about his email suggesting Yarmi write a report for the CIA (i.e., the Culinary Institute of America). Matt instantly understands the confusion of acronyms, but will his interlocutor believe that the almighty spy agency allows a mere cooking school to share its initials? Matt’s travails are interspersed with Yarmi’s recipe-filled blog posts, bringing her to life after death, and the procedural narrative spirals to a smoky finish involving lucid dreaming, Santeria, gender fluidity, and the ultimate magic realism of politics. Those expecting a traditional food cozy will be happily surprised. (Mar.)

From the Publisher

Praise for Death Comes in through the Kitchen

"Dovalpage's first crime novel is a well-cooked stew of culture and cuisine . . . [A] stunningly unexpected conclusion."
—The Taos News

"[A] dazzling culinary mystery . . . Those expecting a traditional food cozy will be happily surprised."
—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

"The parade of colorful characters helps Dovalpage paint a vivid portrait of late Castro-era Cuba."
—Kirkus Reviews

"Don’t let the title and included Cuban recipes mislead you into thinking this is a cozy—this novel shows the gritty side of Cuba."
—Library Journal

"[Dovalpage] creates a mélange of clashing cultures, multilayered deception, even traditional Cuban recipes, that are both entertainment and a revealing exposé of how a strangled society bypasses laws to survive, and dare to enjoy, daily life."
—Booklist

"I thoroughly enjoyed this romp through Cuba via Matt's naive perceptions, and look forward to the next in this series from Dovalpage—because there's sure to be more about this set of wild and eccentric characters." 
—Kingdom Books

"A fascinating mystery revealing the dark side of the modern Cuban Revolution."
—Stop, You're Killing Me! 

"Dovalpage does a magnificent job at describing the beauty of Havana, a city caught in the past... An intriguing murder mystery that is heavy with political undertones." 
—Fresh Fiction

"A fascinating book . . . Five stars."
—Fangirl Nation

"A lively murder mystery with a Cuban culinary twist. Teresa Dovalpage brings Havana—with its rampant shortages, schemes, and sensuality—to vivid life. Studded with food blogs by a murdered Cuban chef and the efforts of her hapless American fiancé, this is a dark comedy bursting with cultural history and recipes." 
—Cristina García, New York Times bestselling author of Dreaming in Cuban 

"Death Comes in through the Kitchen might be a story about death, but it's also alive with authentic cubanidad, intrigue, humor, delicious recipes, and complex characters. Beautifully written and bursting with surprises!"
—Margarita Engle, author of Mountain Dog and National Young People's Poet Laureate

"The crime and the recipes take a back seat to the rich flavor the author provides of a culture and a country so close to the US and yet so far away."
—Reviewing the Evidence

"From tantalizing recipes to irresistible scenes of seduction, Death Comes in through the Kitchen provides a sumptuous feast for readers, who will fly through the pages to uncover not only the culprit, but also to discover the true identity of the victim. In her debut crime novel, Teresa Dovalpage delivers her signature sass and bawdy wit, while rendering a bittersweet portrayal of Cuba in the last years of Castro’s reign."  
—Lorraine M. López, author of Homicide Survivors Picnic and Other Stories and The Darling

"You've never read a mystery like this one! In Dovalpage's Cuba, love, murder, food and politics form a deliciously dark and funny stew." 
—Chantel Acevedo, author of The Distant Marvels and The Living Infinite

"Eye opening, a cultural tour that I enjoyed taking."
—Book Dilettante (blog)

Praise for the work of Teresa Dovalpage

“A rich and perceptive portrayal of daily life in Cuba.”
—Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel

“[A] piquant coming-of-age novel.”
—O Magazine

“Amusing, observant . . . Dovalpage’s sense of place and devastating depiction of prejudice in 1980s Cuba make this a worthwhile debut.”
—The Miami Herald

Kirkus Reviews

2018-02-06
A San Diego food writer finds himself in the soup when his would-be fiancee is found dead in her Havana apartment.Matthew Sullivan, who writes food columns for El Grito de San Diego and Foodalicious, thinks he's hit the jackpot when he discovers Yarmi Cooks Cuban, a blog by Yarmila Portal Richards, who works at La Caldosa, a private restaurant run by Isabel Quintana in the living room of her Havana apartment. El Grito's Spanish-language readers love Yarmi's unique take on Cuban cuisine, and Matthew is increasingly captivated by their private correspondence. After visiting Yarmi for a couple of weeks, Matthew is smitten. He buys a wedding dress in San Diego and goes back to Havana to propose. His second trip is a disaster. When he arrives at Yarmi's apartment, she's lying dead in her bathtub. Isabel offers Matt her penthouse, which turns out to be a dilapidated hellhole. "Agent Pedro" of the Seguridad, Cuba's Department of State Security, confiscates his passport. Taty, a waiter at La Caldosa, makes a pass at him. As Matt's life spirals increasingly out of control, Dovalpage's narrative veers away from him to follow Padrino, a Santeria priest Matt recruits to help solve Yarmi's murder; Pato Macho, Isabel's volatile son; and failed revolutionary Ricardito Rendón. The parade of colorful characters helps Dovalpage paint a vivid portrait of late Castro-era Cuba but does little to solve Yarmi's murder.Dovalpage, author of novels and short stories in both Spanish and English (The Astral Plane: Stories of Cuba, The Southwest, and Beyond, 2012, etc.), offers lots of local color, but her rambling tale of love gone wrong is too unfocused to sustain interest in what's essentially a shaggy dog story.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169875706
Publisher:	Recorded Books, LLC
Publication date:	03/20/2018
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Death Comes in through the Kitchen"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Teresa Dovalpage.
Excerpted by permission of Soho Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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