It’s a mystery as to why two towering igures of Latin American literature such as Silvina Ocampo and Adolfo Bioy Casares aren’t better known outside Spanish-language literature for more than just their close association with Jorge Luis Borges. Particularly for this book—the only novel the husband-and-wife team wrote together, which has never before been translated into English.

It, too, is a mystery: In seaside Bosque del Mar, Argentina, guests at the Hotel Central are struck by double misfortune—the mysterious death of one of their party, and an investigation headed by the physician, writer, and insufferable busybody, Dr. Humberto Huberman. When pretty young translator Mary is found dead on the first night of Huberman’s stay, he quickly appoints himself leader of an inquiry that will see blame apportioned in turn to each and every guest—including Mary’s own sister—escalating into a wild, wind-blown reconnaissance mission to the nearby shipwreck, the Joseph K.

Where There’s Love, There’s Hate is both a genuinely suspenseful mystery and an ingenious send-up of the genre—a novel that’s captivating, unashamedly erudite, and gloriously witty.