3 out of 4 stars
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The Murders on Three Bridges is a locked-room murder mystery by Kim Ekemar. Ricardo Rivas is a detective inspector with the Buenos Aires police department. After his mother dies, Ricardo learns that he was adopted as a baby. Getting his DNA tested, he meets his biological grandmother, Angelina Arriaga. Ricardo changes his surname to Arriaga. Police charge his adoptive father, Fernando Rivas, with falsifying Ricardo's birth certificate. After this stressful time in his life, Ricardo's ex-girlfriend, Carolina, suggests he relax on a cruise around Cape Horn on the Stella Australis. However, on the third day of the cruise, a gunshot rings out on the bridge, a man dies from a bullet to the head, and Ricardo is thrust back into his job as a detective again. With multiple suspects, no witnesses, and the bridge doors all locked from the inside, Ricardo must work out who did it, and how...
I enjoyed the character development for Ricardo in the first chapter, which covered his family background, setting him up for his cruise on the Stella Australis. The other characters were also rich and varied, with enough background information to show them as real people leading real lives. The writing itself was also excellent; Ekemar’s style was easy and conversational, making his prose a pleasure to read. His character descriptions were neat, picking out only a few major characteristics for each person, allowing the reader to picture them easily before moving on with the story.
The Murders on Three Bridges was a genuine mystery. Most of Ricardo’s nine suspects had at least some motive for murder. Ekemar also included plenty of red herrings to keep things interesting. Though I did correctly suspect the killer at one point, I did not yet know their motive or means, and my suspicions later moved on to others. My last guess at the murderer was ultimately incorrect. Another element I liked was how Ekemar left his last few chapters (detailing the murderer, motive, and means) out of the original PDF copy of the book. I had to email the author and supply my own suspicions on these three elements before receiving these chapters.
There were some minor issues, mainly with wording, but these were all fairly subjective. One such phrase was: “he depressed sat on his desk chair,” where I would say: “he sat, depressed, on his desk chair.” Similarly: “There was anyway nothing I could do about it,” where I would place “anyway” at the end of the sentence. One other sentence that was not strictly correct was: “Stella Australis now encountered itself at open sea,” which should be “found itself at open sea,” as a ship, by definition, can’t encounter itself – except, perhaps, in The Twilight Zone...
In summary, The Murders on Three Bridges was a great locked-room murder mystery, rich in interesting characters, presenting a genuine puzzle for readers to solve. I thoroughly enjoyed it; unfortunately, it did have some minor typographical errors and occasional missing words. Therefore, I must award it 3 out of 4 stars. With these errors fixed, it would be a definite 4-star book. Regardless, I would highly recommend it to all fans of crime and mystery. It contained only minor violence, no sex, and – refreshingly – no profanity.
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The Murders on Three Bridges
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