A(nother) Year of Orenda – Mexico Street by Simone Buchholz

Back to Mandie and her Chastity Riley catch up. This time its a review of book three, Mexico Street. You can find out what I thought about the book right here. Here’s what it’s all about:

About the Book

Hamburg state prosecutor Chastity Riley investigates a series of arson attacks on cars across the city, which leads her to a startling and life-threatening discovery involving criminal gangs and a very illicit love story…

Night after night, cars are set alight across the German city of Hamburg, with no obvious pattern, no explanation and no suspect.
Until, one night, on Mexico Street, a ghetto of high-rise blocks in the north of the city, a Fiat is torched. Only this car isn’t empty. The body of Nouri Saroukhan – prodigal son of the Bremen clan – is soon discovered, and the case becomes a homicide.

Public prosecutor Chastity Riley is handed the investigation, which takes her deep into a criminal underground that snakes beneath the whole of Germany. And as details of Nouri’s background, including an illicit relationship with the mysterious Aliza, emerge, it becomes clear that these are not random attacks, and there are more on the cards…

Mandie’s Thoughts

Mexico Street is the third in the Chastity Riley series and she has certainly got her work cut out for her with the latest case. When she is called to a burned-out car with a body inside, Chastity finds herself once again teamed up with Ivo Stepanovic to try to find out why Nouri Saroukhan was targeted.

With the investigations taking them to Nouri’s hometown they are faced with prejudices they have not encountered before and not what they expected. His family have disowned him and seem unwilling to help find out why Nouri was murdered. Digging into his past just seems to open up more questions rather than giving them answers. The glimpses into Nouri’s past showed a person who was determined to break away from family traditions and to be able to lead a normal life and fit in with society. It also showed a different perspective on prejudice and the forms it can take. If the case wasn’t challenging enough, Chastity is still dealing with a very complicated personal life, with someone from her past resurfacing and she is just not sure how to handle it. And then she is not sure what is going on between her and Ivo either. He challenges her and there is also a spark between them and their interactions away from the case do have you wondering if anything will happen but for now Chastity is determined that this is one complication too many in her life.

This book certainly had me completely baffled as to the motivation to the murder and who was responsible, but I think that is part of its charm. Just as I was sure that I knew the why but not necessarily the who, I was taken down a different route throwing everything back up inn the air ensuring that I would keep reading so that I could finally find out the truth.

Simone Buchholz has created a series that is slightly different, with quirky and flawed characters that you are immediately drawn to. Each book will challenge your thinking with Mexico Street being no exception and for those of you looking for something new I would recommend you pick up this series and delve into the mind and world of Chastity Riley, I can guarantee it will be an interesting ride.

About the Author

Simone Buchholz was born in Hanau in 1972. At university, she studied Philosophy and Literature, worked as a waitress and a columnist, and trained to be a journalist at the prestigious Henri-Nannen-School in Hamburg. In 2016, Simone Buchholz was awarded the Crime Cologne Award as well as runner-up for the German Crime Fiction Prize for Blue Night, which was number one on the KrimiZEIT Best of Crime List for months. She lives in Sankt Pauli, in the heart of Hamburg, with her husband and son.

Books in the Chastity Riley Series: