The
Vagabond Virgins
A Hickey
Family Mystery
Ken Kuhlken
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-59058-461-9 (1590584619)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-461-3 (9781590584613)
Publication Date: February 2008
List Price: $24.95
Synopsis
(from
the publisher): In the weeks before the 1979 Mexican elections, San Diego P.I. Alvaro Hickey follows
newspaper accounts of the stories Baja California campesinos are
spreading about visits from the Holy Virgin. She’s
admonishing them to vote the corrupt and tyrannical PRI out of power.
Though Alvaro doubts her divinity, he’s firmly on her side.
He harbors deep personal and political antipathy to the PRI, even
before Lourdes Shuler comes asking him to unite her with her sister
Lupe, whom she claims is the campesinos’ Virgin.
He’s not the kind to turn down an appeal for help, especially
from a beauty he senses might fill a missing part of him. Besides, the
published sketch a savant girl drew of the Virgin looks identical to
Lourdes. He imagines she might not have a sister. Then, on their way to
dinner, they pick up a tail. Lourdes admits the man could’ve
been sent by her brother Andres, an advisor to the Mexican president,
to retrieve the fortune in gold she stole from her dead father. She
claims their father was a German Nazi, and that her sister murdered
him. Alvaro chooses to stand with the lady while realizing she might
become his last adventure. And as yet, even while they travel the back
roads and trails of Baja, he doesn’t know about the infamous
comandante of the Mexican federal police who has come from the capital
to rid the land of this Virgin, who may be the lady at
Alvaro’s side.
Review:
Ken Kuhlken's fifth mystery in the Hickey family series, The Vagabond
Virgins, focuses on Alvaro Hickey, a San Diego private investigator who
is hired to locate a woman posing as the Virgin Mary who is traveling
the countryside with a very specific message to the faithful: vote the
current government in Mexico out of power.
The woman who hires Alvaro is the Virgin's sister, Lourdes Garcia. When
presented with a drawing of the Virgin, as personified by Lupe Garcia,
Alvaro notes that Lourdes bears a striking resemblance between the two
women. Could it be that Lupe doesn't exist and that Lourdes and Lupe
are one and the same? Notwithstanding the million dollars in gold that
Lourdes has smuggled across the border, Alvaro agrees to help her and
begins a journey fraught with danger through Baja California in search
of the Virgin Mary.
It would be inaccurate to state that not much happens in The Vagabond
Virgins. There is a subtle sort of suspense that builds as the story
progresses and there's certainly a fair amount of concentrated action.
In the end, though, it seems as if there isn't much substance here. In
this regard, it's rather disappointing because there are parts of the
book that are really quite well done.
Topping this list is the character of Alvaro Hickey. His motives for
taking on this case are complicated and are continually explored as he
gets further into the search. He doesn't necessarily believe his client
who is caught telling several lies but he's intrigued by her story. The
mysterious man following them is unknown to Alvaro yet he instinctively
knows he needs to keep one step ahead. There are other points as well
that are noteworthy including a variation on the look-alikes that
switch places to fool everyone, a scene every reader predicts will
happen and is delighted nonetheless when it does.
But as a mystery, The Vagabond Virgins does not have a really
compelling plot. To its credit, however, the story's narrative is very
well done and it's populated with an interesting cast of characters.
Special thanks to Poisoned Pen Press for providing an ARC of The Vagabond Virgins for this review.
Review Copyright © 2008 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.
Mysteries in this series ...
The Loud Adios
St. Martin's Press (Hardcover), August 1991
ISBN-10: 0-312-05951-5 (0312059515)
The Venus Deal
St. Martin's Press (Hardcover), April 1993
ISBN-10: 0-312-08918-X (031208918X)
The Angel Gang
St. Martin's Press (Hardcover), August 1994
ISBN-10: 0-312-10930-X (031210930X)
The Do-Re-Mi
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), November 2006
ISBN-10: 1-59058-337-X (159058337X)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-337-1 (9781590583371)
The Vagabond
Virgins
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), February 2008
ISBN-10: 1-59058-461-9 (1590584619)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-461-3 (9781590584613)
Omnimystery keywords for The Vagabond Virgins
...
Location(s) referenced: San Diego,
California, Baja California.