Created by by Carolina Garcia-Aguilera
We first meet Havana private eye SOPHIE STEVENSON (and her partner Big Pete) in the amusing (and Shamus-nominated) short story “The Pearl of Antilles,” which made its debut in the 2022 anthology Edgar & Shamus Go Golden.
Sophie is a former Navy intelligence officer (she was a Code Girl) who’d been stationed in “the most debauched and corrupt city in the World” during World War II, and decided to stick around—favouring the climate over her home state of Vermont. An American with an intelligence background and a fluency in Spanish, it’s been relatively easy to cut out a niche for herself as a private eye.
Big Pete, meanwhile, is 6-4”, and “easily three hundred pounds,” a Golden Gloves contender before the Navy, and we’re assured a remarkably well-organized and a meticulous bookkeeper.”
Together they run S.O. Stevenson & Brothers, Private Investigators (there are no brothers, but that a whole other story), and they’re doing alright, with their clientele evenly split, more or less, between Americans (financial cases, mostly) and Cubans (strat husbands).
“The Pearl of Antilles,” however, revolves around a kidnapped dog, of all things. It’s a slight story, to be sure, but worthy of its final chuckle, and it’s a fine introduction to a couple of characters I’d love to see again.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Born in Havana, Cuba, the author came to the United States when she was ten. She attended Miss Porters High School in Conneticut, and graduated from Rollins College in Winter Park, FL, with B.A. in history and political science. She became a private investigator in 1986, with the goal of writing a series featuring Cuban-born private eye Lupe Solano who claims Miami’s Little Havana as her turf. I think she succeeded. She lives in Miami Beach with numerous daughters and dogs.
SHORT STORIES
- “The Pearl of Antilles” (2022, Edgar & Shamus Go Golden)
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.
