Crimes and Misdemeanors: Tales of Mystery and Imagination

by José Talleyrand Rodríguez

1598. In the city of Amsterdam, a Flemish engraver and cartographer creates a map showing a marvelous land located in the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. Guiana. A land tremendously rich in natural resources and filled with many legends. To get the attention of the public, the cartographer elaborates his map mixing solid facts and fantasy. Explorers from Europe fight to own a piece of Guiana. Four hundred years later, men, who bought the message sent by the Flemish engraver, are destroying the Amazon rainforests. 2017. A clever man in New York City earns a fortune working in the advertisement industry. Playing with signs, he sells tobacco and political fantasies. Man is the superior species but the Devil seems to be everywhere, living and flowing with the passions of human beings, touching everything that we do. What is the best way to survive in a world filled with all kind of crimes and misdemeanors? A shifter has found a “perfect” See, swallow, think, piss, shoot and love.

236 pages, Paperback

Published November 5, 2018

Reviews

[Pedro Woodson Ramirez · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent collection of short stories with an interesting mixture of historical fiction, magic realism, and mystery. There are no weak tales in this book. Where Angels Fall is one of the best stories and I already read it a couple of times. The connection between a fantastic map elaborated in the sixteenth century and the on-going destruction of the Amazon jungles is sad and thought-provoking. A gem!

[Franco Hudson · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book we see how temptations can be easily advertised and sold, all it takes is a bit of spicing up and exaggeration. This is how the cartographer drew people to his map that he added a lot of fantasy to and similarly the successful New York business man who used his position in the advertising agency to glorify and sell tobacco.

[Sophia Savage · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is so much happening at every step of the way throughout this novel that you feel like you are part of the story. The crimes and murders conducted are described in so much detail that you enjoy every bit of the scene.

[Leia Mcmahon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a fast paced and fun read. It was so hard for me to put this book down and I ended up taking multiple coffee and bathroom breaks the entire week at work till I finished it.

[Haiden Li · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author has provided so much detail, impactful dialogues and elaborate scene descriptions that throughout the book I felt like I was a bystander in every scene.

[Jamie Maynard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book presents a unique and though provoking concept hidden amidst all the stories of felonies and misdemeanors. I would recommend this book to all those who love books on crime and fantasy.

[Stephen Mack · Rating 5 out of 5]

I personally loved the idea of bringing two eras together to show the similarities in human nature despite technology and education over a period of hundreds of years.

[Antonio Banos · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an impressive collection of short stories. Easy to read and elegant intellectual fiction. It engages your brain and soul. It is not a novel, but the tales share a crew of characters and settings you would love to be a part of. Several of the stories are outstanding. My favorites include:

Signs – It deals with the creation of signs and the awful manipulation of the public by the marketing industry.

I Love You, Therefore I am – A hilarious short story describing a love affair involving a main character in the book who must learn in a short time all the intellectual achievements of René Descartes

Where Angels Fall – A very nice tale mixing history and fiction, describing the discovery of Angel Falls in Guyana, and denouncing the systematic destruction of the Amazon rain forests.

René – Probably the best tale in the book. An interesting way of combining signs, photographs, narrative and poetry. The main character is a rebel, a transgressor against the system.