Betty Boo (Betibú)

Will this peculiar trio manage to uncover the culprit? 

Pedro Chazarreta, businessman suspected of having killed his wife, was found with a slit throat in  his favorite armchair, with an empty whiskey bottle in one hand and a bloody knife in the other. The scene of the crime appeared to be a suicide, but the autopsy revealed otherwise. ?Perhaps someone wanted to avenge the death of Gloria, Chazarreta’s wife, murdered in the same house a mere three years ago; or perhaps the same person who killed Gloria decided her husband needed to die, too. In either case, who is the killer? The media fuels with speculation.

Simultaneous to the ongoing investigation, El Tribuno, one of the largest newspapers in the country, has hired Nurit Iscar. She is a retired crime novelist, nicknamed Betty Boo because of her resemblance to the famous Betty Boop cartoon character. After her last novel´s failure, Nurit has been under the radar for years, working as a biography “ghost” writer.?

Due to financial concerns, she is forced to accept the position, even though she isn´t too fond of the idea, mostly because Lorenzo Rinaldi, director at the newspaper and her former lover, contracted her. Even though their affair ended several years back, her grudge still stands, as Rinaldi was never brave enough to leave his wife for her.??

Her first assignment is to write about Pedro´s murder, but she will not work on this story alone, as they also hire the “the crime section boy”. The boy is a newcomer, a naive successor to the previous crime columnist, who has no passion for journalism and the work that inevitably comes with the job.? Fortunately, Betty Boo will also count on Jaime Brena for help, the veteran crime section journalist, who has much experience and knows exactly what he is doing, known for having written about Argentina’s most resounding cases. Jaime is fascinated by the complexity of the case and by his secret admiration for Nurit, so he decides to lend her a hand. The boy will be taken along as training in the art of street journalism. And just like that, this truly peculiar investigative team is formed, each with their own reason for continuing on with the case: Nurit wants something that will reinspire her and give her back the confidence in herself and in her writing; Jaime needs something that will give him back the excitement, motivation and desire to continue going to work every day; and the boy wishes for a sign that he has not made a mistake in his profession. In one of the many visits to the crime scene, the team discovers a portrait: the first clue to link together a series of murders of powerful men who share a common dark past.?

It will be a race against time for this dysfunctional trio, who will be tearing apart the threads of a plot that exceeds the limits of a simple police case, in search of the killer who is still at large.?

RELEVANT DATA: Betty Boo is an intriguing thriller about crime and journalism, in the purest Noir style, that has traveled around the world.

Claudia Piñeiro, known as Argentina’s Noir Novel Queen, is one of the most acclaimed voices in contemporary Latin American literature. She is the most translated Argentine author after Borges and Cortázar, and one of the most adapted Spanish-speaking authors for film and TV today.

Among her many awards are the Clarín Award, the Latin American Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature, the Pléyade Award, the ACE Award, the LiBeraturpreis Award, the Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Award and the Pepe Carvalho Award. She was also a finalist for the Planeta Argentina Award and the La Sonrisa Vertical Award, as well as having been selected in the Edebé Publishing Contest.

What the critics have said:

“Betibú is a detective novel with social analysis. Masterful.  […] It reads with relish and forces you to reflect at the same time. All the ingredients necessary to hook the reader are present: suspense, reflection, love, sex, betrayals, corruption, serial revenge, action.” Pasión de la lectura (literary blog)

AUDIOVISUAL POTENTIAL: TV Series and Miniseries.

LANGUAGES AVAILABLE: Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, Arabic, Italian, Estonian, Bulgarian, Dutch, Polish.