The Big Mango - Tapa blanda

The Big Mango jumps from New York City to the tropical island-nation of Misericordia, a volcano of pent-up human suffering and rage. A popular uprising led by Father Pierre-Pierre Bernard, a parish priest, provides the island's indigent multitude with a rare moment of freedom and self-rule. But Bernard proves singularly ill-equipped to lead the country as president and is deposed to exile in the U.S. by a right-wing military coup.
Enter Nina Halligan, the headstrong, street-savy-but-sophisticated private investigator. A former prosecutor, Nina has a sixth sense for scandal and corruption, as well as a troubled history of dragging the people she loves into danger. Goaded into travelling to Washington to help Father Bernard regain his government, Nina's attention turns to the murder of her friend's husband, Michael Debord, an insider in the administration of U.S. President Jeff Benton. Nina's investigation becomes personal as she and her friend Anna head to Misericordia to find Michael's killer, arriving in "the land of mercy" as it is about to explode.

Norman Kelley has written for Newsday, the Village Voice, The Nation, and New York Press. He is the author of "The Head Negro in Charge Syndrome (Nation Books 2004), and the Nina Halligan mystery series -- Black Heat (HarperCollins), The Big Mango (Akashic), and A Phat Death (Akashic). He lives in Brooklyn.