A dead aspiring novelist, a private investigator with a taste for rum, and a city where paradise and desperation share the same block: these are the ingredients of Comanche, P.I., Pedro Medina León’s crime novel, translated from Spanish by Abel M. Folgar.

On Tuesday, November 10, Medina León and Folgar will appear at the Coral Gables Branch Library for “From Beach Bum to the Borderlands: The Florida Noir Protagonist.” Presented through the Miami-Dade Public Library System’s Local Author Series / Miami Book Month, the conversation offers an entry into the novel’s distinctly Miami world.

The investigation begins when Gregorio Lizárraga, an Argentine restaurant worker who dreams of becoming a published writer, is found dead on the Venetian Causeway. His notebooks offer traces of a literary life interrupted. Following those traces, the Comanche moves through South Beach’s bars, cramped apartments, restaurant kitchens, and underground literary circles, encountering people whose ambitions collide with the daily business of survival.

Fueled by Bustelo coffee, cigarettes, and salsa, the detective belongs to the same imperfect world he investigates. His methods are abrasive, his appetites conspicuous, and his connections indispensable. Through him, Miami emerges as a city of immigrant voices, precarious livelihoods, criminal dealings, and stubborn creative aspirations.

The novel also turns its attention toward storytelling itself. Writers debate the tropical noir tradition, while the murder investigation exposes the distance between literary dreams and the circumstances in which those dreams take shape.

Bringing author and translator together, the evening invites readers to consider Florida crime fiction through language, place, and the complicated figures who inhabit its margins.

The event takes place from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Coral Gables Branch Library, 3443 Segovia Street, Coral Gables, Florida 33134. It is intended for adults ages 18 and older.

Registration: https://mdpls.org/event/16653289. For information, contact the library at 305-442-8706.