Who is the dead man lying in front of the convent in Santa Clara by the Sea? Was he already dead before he died in Santa Clara? Bebéi, a simpleminded French archivist with a photographic memory, must solve an ever-deepening mystery to calm the streets.

But it will also take a village of friends and helpers: a Caribbean ex-president who lives among cats; a Chinese stripper with a doll face; a Rastafarian workaholic; a Greek sea captain; even a remorseful German terrorist, who shares a vagabond life on the church stairs with a runaway Wall Street investor and a stoned Canadian hippie. With these and other characters, The Condor's Riddle adds to the exotic literature of Latin America, where timeworn splendors provide a haunting backdrop for the tragicomedy of the modern day.