The dazzling, award-winning novel from one of Mexico’s greatest living writers, translated into English for the first time

A NEW YORK TIMES 100 NOTABLE BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2025

A TIME MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK FOR 2025

‘A labyrinthine masterpiece’ New York Times
‘A subversive twist on the traditional serial killer story’ TIME
‘Obsessive, dreamlike and hallucinatory’ Layla Martinez

beware of me, my love
beware of the silent woman in the desert…

These are the words the Professor finds, scrawled in nail polish, above the mutilated corpse of a man.

She reports the crime to the police and becomes the first informant in an investigation led by the Detective, who has a newfound obsession with poetry. As the bodies of more men are discovered alongside cryptic lines of verse, it becomes clear that this is only one in a string of crimes – all connected, all with literary clues.

As the Professor becomes wrapped up in the murders, the boundaries of story – and of genre – break down. Can the Detective decipher the meaning of the poems in time to stop the spread of violence?

Translated by Sarah Booker and Robin Myers

"This detective novel radically scrambles what we think of, and how we relate to, the genre ... The case [is] “full of psychological nooks and crannies. Of poetic shadows. Gender traps. Metaphors. Metonyms.” That also describes Rivera Garza’s exceptional style, and the deeply rewarding experience of reading Death Takes Me. The novel is dense and elliptical, a dreamscape with a powerful undertow ... [A] harrowing and labyrinthine masterpiece" - New York Times

"A subversive twist on the traditional serial killer story" - Time

"Rivera Garza, who won a Pulitzer prize last year for her memoir of femicide in Mexico, plays with form, blending fiction with an essay complete with footnotes, satirising media coverage, incorporating comments on the publication of the book we’re reading, and generally having fun. Her exuberance is contagious. “Reading shouldn’t be so complicated,” says one character. “A matter of turning the page.” Of course, it’s both" - Spectator

"The novel brilliantly melds the grit and pacing of a police procedural with literary theory ... It’s all seamlessly conveyed in Rivera Garza’s incisive and poetic style. Life and literature become one in this singular achievement" - Publishers Weekly