A SHADOW OF JAGUARS, soon to be Cali's Morse and Lewis?

A SHADOW OF JAGUARS
D.C. FROST
Canis Major Books (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link)
$9.99 ebook, available now

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: A Shadow of Jaguars by D.C. Frost is a gripping cross-border noir thriller that follows Detective DJ Arias as he navigates murder, Hollywood intrigue, and immigrant struggles across Mexico City and Los Angeles, blending fast-paced suspense and richly drawn characters.

In Mexico City for a family funeral, Detective DJ Arias encounters a group of Robin Hood-style thieves who call themselves the Jaguars. Their activities reach across the border into Los Angeles with a Hollywood murder that entangles LA's elite and the nannies, housekeepers, and gardeners who serve them, and threatens DJ's own loved ones.

A sequel to the mystery A Punishing Breed, A Shadow of Jaguars finds DJ and partner Bobby Talbot struggling to untangle a murder where Hollywood, wealthy powerbrokers, and an immigrant population struggle to coexist and survive. Throughout it all, his faithful dog Evidence is by his side.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: I haven't read A Punishing Breed, the first of the DJ Arias series of mysteries. From what I've read about others' thoughts on the book, several Goodreads friends having read it, it's a high-energy read with a lot of twists and turns. Permaybehaps too many, possibly a scoche too action-packed at the expense of clarity of purpose.

Checks all the way down that list.

Arias, an LAPD detective, starts the story held under the Basilica of our Lady of Guadalupe while in Mexico City for a family funeral. The leader of a violent gang called the Jaguars (cool name, but they're felonious yam's bad hombres incarnate), Señor Blanco, robs his family. After Arias is freed, his relatives dissuade the authorities from investigating Señor Blanco's Jaguars in typical intimidated-witness fashion: "No one was hurt; those men treated our women with respect," Arias's uncle says. Returning to L.A. Arias gets involved in the investigation of the death of Hollywood journalist Douglas Vago, who’s killed with the spiky end of a starburst clock in the home of a Mexican film director. Arias and his movie buff partner, Bobby Talbot, discover that the only thing taken from the crime scene was an unfinished script. Their suspect list is heavy with studio execs upset with Vago, a powerful magazine editor carrying secrets, and the director's undocumented household workers. Among the latter group is gardener Juan Tlaloc Duran, who has deep ties to the Jaguars. When you thought the Nutribullet was on full whirl, Vago's ex-wife is beaten to death.

I got really confused a lot. Bobby Talbot the movie buff/sidekick was invaluable for motives but kinda lackadaisical on doing policework meticulously. Arias feels like a lift of the Continental Op in his blockiness and his voice that narrates but never converses. But, again like the Continental Op, he is all-in on Justice. Laws be damned (flouted, anyway) if Justice needs serving. I'm probably more likely to call it ma'at than Justice because I see the latter term as besmirched by the US system that goes by that name, so prefer the clean, clear ancient Egyptian personification that also contains something like karma. I suspect Arias would, too.

There is a woman love interest. I really wasn't interested. Hesperia College was a decently well-limned location, integrated into the story with a slightly strained completeness...I felt at times that locations were sketched for convenience not seen as part of the story from the start.

There was a reckoning, one that arrived in good time...no waiting around, but not rushed or given short shrift only...hectic. And it was well in keeping with what we saw Arias learn. I'm not all the way sure I'll pick up the first one soon, but will certainly get it and read it.

I'm glad Red Hen/Canis Major introduced me to Arias and Bobby. May they develop into Cali's Morse and Lewis.