Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza

• Born: January 1, 1936
• Birthplace: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Died: April 16, 2020
• Place of death: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Types of Plot: Hard-boiled; psychological; police procedural

Principal Series: Inspector Espinosa, 1996-

Contribution

Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza began his writing career by publishing academic works while he was a professor of psychology at Brazil’s Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. His experience as a scientist and psychiatrist is reflected in his mystery series centered on Inspector Espinosa, who investigates crime in the Copacabana section of Rio de Janeiro. In these novels, crimes are not always solved, but Garcia-Roza thoroughly examines the inspector’s thoughts as he contemplates the psychological and philosophical issues that produce these often brutal crimes.

Through Espinosa’s thoughts, Garcia-Roza comments on the modern Brazilian mind, with special emphasis on the psychological and legal interactions between the multiple levels of society to be found in Copacabana and Rio de Janeiro. Espinosa’s calm, frank, and astute assessment of the reasons for the existence of corruption in the megalopolis where he lives provides a nonbiased explanation of the reality of the lives of those who are typically not mentioned in the daily news: the homeless children living on the streets of Rio, police who place their own welfare above that of their fellow citizens, and strong and independent women who function within a male culture.

Biography

Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza was born in the Copacabana neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in January, 1936. He grew up at a time when Copacabana had no tall buildings and was mostly single houses. He witnessed his neighborhood make the immense change from a small, beachside community to a skyscraper-filled, world-famous resort, and he later made it the setting for his mystery novels. As the city changed around him, Garcia-Roza developed from a young and relatively innocent youth into a sophisticated scientist, Freudian psychoanalyst, and professor.

Garcia-Roza dedicated himself to the academic life at Brazil’s Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He spent thirty-five years teaching philosophy and psychology, directing the preparation of undergraduate and postgraduate theses, and overseeing the postgraduate program of psychoanalytical theory. During his tenure there, Garcia-Roza wrote numerous nonfictional works that dealt primarily with psychological behaviorism. These works expand on Freudian theories of unconsciousness, interpretation of dreams, and metapsychology (the underlying causes of noncognizant behavior). Later, this profound knowledge of human behavior would be evident in the philosophical and analytical musings of Inspector Espinosa, Garcia-Roza’s main character in his mystery novels.

Although Garcia-Roza maintained a busy academic schedule, he still found time to read mystery novels. Among the works he read were those of his favorite authors, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and Arthur Conan Doyle, who would later influence his own mystery fiction. The specific style of writing Garcia-Roza employs in the Inspector Espinosa series is unique, but the author does credit the great masters of mystery with providing examples of literary excellence that inspired him to develop his own distinctive works.

Garcia-Roza’s first mystery novel, O silêncio da chuva (The Silence of the Rain, 2002), was published in 1997. It became an immediate best seller in Brazil. The work received the Nestlé Prize for Literature in 1997 (one of the highest literary awards available in Latin America) and the Jabuti Award for Latin American Literature. Shortly afterward, Garcia-Roza decided to leave his distinguished position at his university and to embrace mystery-fiction writing as his full-time career. The Espinosa series has been translated into English, Spanish, French, Greek, and other languages.

Analysis

Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza started the Inspector Espinosa series in 1997 with The Silence of the Rain. Inspector Espinosa lives a very Brazilian life in Copacabana. He knows his neighborhood well, and the streets, parks, beaches, and the characters he encounters in the novels are all based on well-known Carioca (Rio de Janeiro resident) lifestyles. Espinosa lives a solitary life among the crowds of tourists, business professionals, entrepreneurs, the homeless, and the criminals of Copacabana. The inspector goes about his life unnoticed by his neighbors. He lives in an honest manner, and to do so, he maintains a certain physical and psychological distance between himself and his community.

This individuality extends to his interactions with fellow law enforcement officials in his police district, the Peixoto District. He is one of only two police officers in the series who are portrayed as honest and above coercion from those who would co-opt them. Garcia-Roza chose the name Espinosa because it was the name of a philosopher. This name was meant to project the image of a police officer who would ponder the evidence and situation rather than the stereotypical Latin crime investigator who would often rigidly stick to his first impressions of a crime in order to solve the case quickly (and often profit from this artificial resolution).

Throughout the series, Garcia-Roza presents the tropical climate and beach environment as an exotic backdrop for the fast-paced progression of life and crime in Rio de Janeiro. The heat of summer (in December), the winds that bring tropical rainstorms, and proximity to ocean beaches with their cooling breezes dictate where many of the clandestine meetings, stakeouts, and other events included in the crime-solving process take place. Like most residents of Copacabana, Inspector Espinosa lives in an apartment. Much of his life involves his experiences with the surrounding neighborhood. In Espinosa, Garcia-Roza creates a fallible man, one who can and does make mistakes as he develops a case. He is a simple but not simplistic man who calmly accepts his life as a divorced man. His home is a place of frozen dinners, oddly stacked literary works (one of his passions is used books), and a telephone answering machine. This “electronic secretary” is central to all of Garcia-Roza’s mystery novels. Much of the action that takes place in the novels begins or ends with a message on the answering machine. The machine is so important in the works that it can be thought of as a crucial character.

Garcia-Roza presents the reader with strong female characters. They run the gamut from wealthy widows to artists to prostitutes. What they all have in common is their intelligence and strength in demanding circumstances. Inspector Espinosa reduces the personal distance he keeps from others only to indulge in one of his few social pleasures: having women in his life. Numerous women, both suspects and friends, appear during Espinosa’s investigations. Most, such as Alba Antunes in The Silence of the Rain, appear in only one novel. However, Irene has an ongoing amorous but nonexclusive relationship with Espinosa throughout the series.

Garcia-Roza provides Espinosa with one honest and trustworthy partner in the police unit, a Sherlock Holmes-like officer known simply as Welber. However, fellow police officers are often as corrupt as the criminal suspects. For this reason, and to avoid losing testimony from honest witnesses who would feel pressured to exaggerate their testimonies if they were to speak inside the district precinct, Espinosa often meets with witnesses in plazas, in parks, or on beaches. The witnesses are often told not to speak to other police, as this could corrupt the investigation. Garcia-Roza presents a strong criticism of the justice system as it operates in Rio de Janeiro. Interestingly, Espinosa is presented not as cynical but rather as pragmatic in the manner that he carries out investigations, given the realities of his position in the department.

Because of Garcia-Roza’s background in psychology, it is not surprising that some of the novels deal with madness versus sanity in society. Just as Espinosa lives in a borderland between law and lawlessness, some of Garcia-Roza’s characters occupy a space between insanity and normality. Readers often finds themselves wondering if a suspect is conscious of his or her behavior. At times it becomes unclear as to who is the victim and who is the perpetrator, and who is the psychiatrist and who is the patient. By the time readers conclude the novels, it becomes apparent that the lines that separate good from evil, police from criminals, and sanity from madness have become blurred in the skewed realities of Copacabana.

The Silence of the Rain

In The Silence of the Rain, when Ricardo Carvalho is found shot within his own automobile, a series of false assumptions leads Inspector Espinosa to repeatedly reevaluate the motives that he logically assumes have driven the suspects in the death. The reader is witness to more than the inspector is, but the evolving plot soon exposes how easily one can be led to psychological assumptions, especially when the reader is used to a North American system of judicial values.

In an example of a reversal of roles, a technique that Garcia-Roza employs in several of his novels, the distinction between murder and suicide, the blackmailer and the one being blackmailed, the police officer and the criminal, and the victim and the perpetrator become muddled. The author presents a straightforward tale of intrigue without using confusing flashbacks or false leads. Instead, a seemingly unconnected series of events and violent actions are logically and seamlessly interwoven during the last short chapters of the novel.

The women in this mystery novel are all quite independent, and all become suspects. In one form or another, Inspector Espinosa is attracted to all of them. Bia, Ricardo Carvalho’s middle-aged but still attractive widow, will not allow herself to be intimidated by pushy police officers. Alba Antunes, a fitness instructor, starts an affair with Espinosa but does not wish any long-term commitment. Rose, Ricardo Carvalho’s secretary, outsmarts all of the antagonists who try to use her for financial gain. The final episode of the novel involves a woman who uses love to literally murder the person who was there to take her life.

A Window in Copacabana

In Uma janela em Copacabana (2001; A Window in Copacabana, 2005), three police officers from the Peixoto precinct where Inspector Espinosa works are shot at point-blank range. The murders are obviously linked, but Espinosa has a problem. He suspects that the murders are linked in some manner to other police officers. Therefore, he has to choose only a few officers, led by his trusted colleague Welber, to investigate without revealing any results or suspicions to other police. In an example of the duality of life and psychology that Garcia-Roza often presents, all the murdered police officers have secret double lives: two addresses and two women. The investigation leads to evidence of widespread corruption within the police department.

The mistresses of the murdered police start to show up dead. The investigation finds collusion between organized crime and several police officers, but this actually starts to hinder the process of finding those responsible for the murders. Espinosa is correct that the perpetrators are within close proximity to him, but his mistaken psychological profile of the guilty allows the real culprit to manipulate the situation from the start.

Irene, Espinosa’s girlfriend, is present in this work and functions as a sort of cross-examiner in that she allows the inspector to bounce ideas off of her. As usual, Garcia-Roza presents a world that is filled with female protagonists who all seem to be attractive to Espinosa. The author’s brilliant manner of portraying the inspector as attempting to save the last mistress from the mob’s assassins leaves the reader unprepared for what at first glance seems to be one last twist in the plot, but actually reveals the Achilles’ heel of Espinosa’s gender follies.

Pursuit

In O perseguido (2003; Pursuit, 2006), Dr. Nesse, a psychiatrist in Copacabana, discovers that one of his daughters has disappeared with one of his patients. Inspector Espinosa is called in to find the daughter, but she returns on her own after admitting having had an affair with the patient. Months later, Espinosa is called again, this time by the doctor, who is being accused of harassing and intimidating a patient who was under his care in a psychiatric hospital, to the point of causing his death. This Garcia-Roza work blurs the line between victim and perpetrator and between sanity and insanity.

Inspector Espinosa attempts to interpret the supposed murder of a man who cannot be proved to have existed. His witnesses at first are reluctant to reveal information and later are found murdered. The reader is left to try to ascertain just who is psychotic, the doctor, his family, or the missing “victim.” This is an offbeat critique of the psychiatric institutions and experts in Rio de Janeiro. Those who are presumed to be abnormal are found to be sane and also dead, while those who treat them are actually spiraling into paranoia.

Principal Series Characters:

• Inspector Espinosa is a middle-aged police investigator from the Peixoto District Precinct, in the Copacabana neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro. Espinosa is divorced and has a son that he has not seen in years, who lives in Washington, D.C. Espinosa lives alone in a small apartment near his work and maintains an ever-growing library of used books, which he respects more than he does most of his fellow police officers. He considers himself to be one of the few honest detectives in a job where most have been co-opted by a system of payoffs. He accomplishes most of his crime solving outside the official judicial system. Espinosa lives a simple life, with only two passions: Italian food and good-looking women.
• Irene (her last name is never given), the one consistent woman in Inspector Espinosa’s life, lives in São Paulo but travels to Rio de Janeiro on business. Espinosa often wonders about Irene’s private life and speculates that she may have other lovers. Nonetheless, both he and Irene maintain separate lives, and neither wishes to marry. The relationship is one of mutual respect and admiration, rather than control.
• Welber is a young police officer who is the only person in the Peixoto District Precinct that his chief, Inspector Espinosa, trusts implicitly. Welber is logical, dedicated, intelligent, and honest. He is chosen when Espinosa needs somebody outside the judicial system to work with him in the streets of Copacabana and Rio de Janeiro. Welber lives a simple life in a neighborhood far from Copacabana and suffers a long daily commute to work. He repeatedly confirms his integrity, to the point of getting shot while protecting Espinosa.

Bibliography

Craig-Odders, Renee W., ed. Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Detective Fiction. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2006. Collection of essays on multiple authors of detective works with astute observations on the sociopolitical environments in which the works are located. Especially useful for feminist observations. Index.

Garcia-Roza, Luis Alfredo. Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza. http://www.garcia-roza.com/index.htm. A useful source for general information on Garcia-Roza and on Copacabana and Rio de Janeiro (location of the mystery works).

Hooper, Brad. Review of A Window in Copacabana by Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza. Booklist 101, no. 5 (November 1, 2004): 468. A favorable review of the work in the Espinosa series that mentions the author’s use of Rio de Janeiro as a setting.

Simpson, Amelia S. Detective Fiction from Latin America. London: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1990. This work is a general explanation of the Latin American mystery novel from a historical and geopolitical viewpoint. The Brazilian mystery novel is examined as being unique unto itself. Important Latin American mystery authors’ works are also briefly covered. Photographs and index.