HAITI, LOVE AND MURDER...IN THE SEASON OF SOUP JOUMOU

The grotesque murder of a colleague in Haiti entangles a doctor and reporter in a world of corruption and conspiracy in this novel by journalist Matza.

Corinne Martin, a dedicated British doctor and first responder, and Charlie Carter, a globetrotting  French-American journalist, are longtime friends and are reunited in Haiti after nearly a decade after Dr. Sanctis Beauvoir, her colleague, is found dead with his eyes cut out. She firmly suspects Dr. Reynard Pinay, head of obstetrics at their hospital, and suspects that Sanctis discovered thefts from a program that delivers American medical-relief supplies to disaster-ravaged Haiti. Charlie reaches out to JB, a longtime friend and FBI agent, for help, but the operative needs more than mere suspicions to proceed, even when attempts are being made on Corinne’s life; the evidence against Pinay isn’t substantial enough to hold up in court. This creates friction between Corrine and Charlie, who believes she’s obsessed with her potential suspect. “As far as I’m concerned,” she responds, “you’re not obsessed enough.” Matza writes with a keen eye for detail and a vivid sense of place, as when describing earthquake damage: “The gleaming presidential palace in Port-au-Prince lay in ruins, a broken-back white whale bleaching in the sun.” He also writes with authority about local ancient traditions and superstitions, such as why the killer would want to cut out his victim’s eyes: “It is a belief among practitioners of witchcraft that the killer’s image would have been the last thing that Sanctis saw…looking into his lifeless eyes would reveal his killer.” Charlie and Corrine are strong, appealing characters. He has a hard-earned cockiness, as when an editor tells him to keep his head down in a war zone, and he replies, “I keep my head up….It’s how I see things.” Corrine is effectively shown to be a fiercely dedicated physician who’s come to Haiti because it’s where she knows she can do the most good. A thorough copy edit, however, would remedy several distracting instances of dropped words and missing letters: “Charlie told Corinne he was chang his plans.”

A thriller that offers lively characters and escalating danger.