Twice the Taibo

Thanks to those smarties at Akashic Books, the wonderful Mexican writer Paco Ignacio Taibo II is receiving some major play. First off, he edited one of the company’s fine collections of short stories, Mexico City Noir, which offers new work by Eugenio Aguirre, Eduardo Antonia Parra, Bernardo Fernández Bef, Óscar de la Borbolla, Victor Luiz González, Myriam Laurini, Eduardo Monteverde, and others.

On top of that Akashic has released a new, expanded edition of The Uncomfortable Dead (2006), credited to both Taibo and Subcomandante Marcos. Says Publishers Weekly:

Mexican crime writer Taibo and a real-life spokesperson for the Zapatista movement, Subcomandante Marcos, provide alternating chapters for this postmodern comedic mystery about good, evil, and modern revolutionary politics. Elías Contreras, a detective for the Zapatista National Liberation Army (and Marcos’ creation), heads to Mexico City to investigate the case of a nefarious government-backed murderer named Morales. Taibo brings back one-eyed Mexico City detective Héctor Belascoaràn Shayne (Return to the Same City, etc. ), who becomes involved in the case when he learns of strange telephone messages about this same Morales. Taibo’s expertise ensures a smart, funny book, and Marcos brings a wry sense of humor. The authors mix mystery with metafiction: characters operate from beyond the grave or chat about the roles they play in the novel, and Marcos writes his fictional self into the story.

Taibo was born in Gijón, Spain, but he has lived in Mexico ever since 1958. He is now a professor of history at the Mexico City’s Metropolitan University.

Great stuff, especially the one-eyed detective ...

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(Black Irish Blarney).