The Mongolian Conspiracy
Filiberto Garcia learned his trade—killing people—as a teenager in the Mexican Revolution. Now (sometime after the Kennedy assassination), he’s 60 and still killing people—for the Mexico City police. It seems the Russians have warned the U.S. of an assassination plot against the U.S. president on a visit to Mexico City. The Russians say the plot was hatched in China. Filiberto is assigned to work with Russian and American spooks to stop it. While the Cold War adversaries warily measure each other, Filiberto begins to rattle cages in Chinatown, even as he pursues Marta, a beautiful young Chinese woman. His cage rattling immediately produces “stiffs.” His efforts to bed Marta turn unexpectedly, uncharacteristically, and humorously chivalrous. Bernal published this noir in Mexico in 1969, presaging Paco Ignacio Taibo’s Héctor Belascoarán Shayne and Ken Bruen’s tormented ex-Garda, Jack Taylor. The usually dyspeptic Filiberto narrates, and his angry screeds about, well, almost everything recall Taylor’s anguished and funny rants. His ideas also reflect Shayne’s indictments of Mexican government corruption and repression. International-crime fans will enjoy this one. --Thomas Gaughan