Crocodile Tears

Mercedes Rosende

Translated by Tim Gutteridge

"Fast, slick and acerbically funny: buckle up and enjoy the ride." Laura Wilson, Guardian

"It reads like a marvellous mash-up of Anita Brookner and Quentin Tarantino." The Times

  • Welcome to the mean streets of Montevideo, Uruguay, and the tale of a bungled heist told with excoriating humour. 
  • Crocodile Tears won the prestigious 2019 LiBeraturpreis in Germany. 
  • Our first book from Uruguay and the first time Mercedes Rosende is available in English. Another novel will follow with the same female protagonists but new male villains. 
  • The story of inept males failing miserably at even the simplest criminal tasks is familiar to Cohen Brother fans. Those who loved Burn After Reading (catastrophic blackmailing) and especially Fargo (failed kidnappings) will rejoice when reading Crocodile Tears. And they will have the bonus of discovering a new country and city with its own social and political ills. 
  • This could have been another mundane male loser story, but Rosende introduces two fascinating women. Ursula Lopez, once a shy girl affected by an eating disorder whose involvement in the armoured truck caper seems a path to salvation. And cop Leonilda Lima, underestimated by her male colleagues, the only person in Montevideo intelligent and persistent enough to tie together kidnapping, murder and robbery. 

It all starts in an overcrowded prison, where Diego is being held on a charge of kidnapping. Diego’s lawyer, the fastidious Antinucci, secures Diego’s release. But the lawyer has plans for his client, whose unexpected freedom comes at a price: he must join forces with a brutal psychopath, the Hobo, and hold up an armoured truck. 

A hilarious caper ensues, as the robbery swiftly degenerates into mayhem and violence. While the men appear to be engaged in a perverse competition to see who is the most incompetent, the disparaged women – Ursula Lopez, an amateur criminal with an insatiable appetite, and her rival, Captain Leonilda Lima – reveal themselves to be the true protagonists. This seemingly classic lowlife crime story has a powerful message: never, ever underestimate the women.

 

 

 

Book Information

Release Dates:
14-January-21 (UK) | 18-February-21 (US)
Pages:
224
ISBN:
9781913394431