This is a great mystery. The book is the third in a series about a dectective, Max Castello. I have read all three books in this series and each one just keeps getting better. ( )

This is a great mystery. The book is the third in a series about a dectective, Max Castello. I have read all three books in this series and each one just keeps getting better. ( )

Suicide in Salobrena is the third in the series about the detective Max Castillo. I've read all three books and each one just keeps getting better than the last. While this one was a gift for a review, I have purchased Mr. Thomson's books and will continue to do so. In this book, Max and friend Cari go to a wedding in the coastal town of Salobrena. They stay at Hotel Tauro where a famous author committed suicide a few days ago. The author's wife does not believe her husband would kill himself despite overwhelming evidence. She hires Max to find the truth. The book keeps you interested as Max delves into the lives of the people of the town and the guests of the hotel.
Mr. Thomson does a great job of making his characters believable. Max seems to come more alive with each book. While he is smart about some things, you feel sorry for his ineptness with people. I would definitely recommend not just this book, but the whole series to anyone who likes a good who-done-it. ( )

After reading Suicide in Salobrena, I began to wonder how many people could a detective round up with motivations for my, or anyone's murder. We spend our days surrounded by people with their disappointments, jealousies, secrets, resentments, ambitions, etc which, thank goodness, generally do not result in murder, at least on the physical plane.

Suicide in Salobrena is a whodunit, with a why, and how that will keep the reader turning pages right up to the end. The murder of a famous writer looks like a suicide, especially since the victim died in a locked hotel room with a chair jammed up against the door. This detail adds fuel to Max Castillo's curiosity, so he takes on the case, despite being in Salobrena to attend a wedding.

As an aside, I enjoyed the setting. Salobrena is a village on the Costa Tropical in Granada, Spain. Cultural details added a nice touch for me and sparked memories of my vacation in Aiguablava. Spanish, and Italian political history shape and define several of the characters, adding flavor like in a good paella.

I found this third installation of the Max Castillo Mystery series to be a bit darker than the first. Max is an ex-priest who lost faith by reaching a scientific understanding of the human need for belief systems. This change has not left Max a happy fellow. He struggles with self-destructive addictions, namely gambling, alcohol, and weed. He is emotionally distant and unmotivated, reminding me of other flawed detectives in literature and film. Yet, Max has a self-depreciating sense of humor, jaded courage, and enough capacity for self-reflection to keep the character interesting. The reader hopes for Max's redemption, not in a religious sense, for his path is a valid one, but a redemption of his humanity where relationships, enjoyment and comfort can be found in life outside addictive crutches and general anesthesia. Without this complicated detective, the suicide in Salobrena would just be another small town murder. ( )