Dead Men Cast No Shadows

English translation of Tongolele no sabía bailar

On the dangerous journey back to Nicaragua from their Honduran exile, Inspector Morales and his old revolutionary comrade Serafín witness the brutal murder of their guide. Agents of the secret police are on their trail, forcing them to take temporary sanctuary with leftist priests, loyal friends, and common Nicaraguans, all swept up in the deranged cynicism, graft, and violence of a dictatorship built on the lies of a long-since-abandoned idealism. As Managua heaves with student protests, and hundreds die at the hands of police and paramilitary units, the inspector continues his dogged quest, uncovering a murky network full of secrets, betrayals and dark maneuvers that he will have to face, or be overwhelmed by. Dead Men Cast No Shadows is an unsparing portrait of a society shaped by corruption and poverty―yet even though it led to the author’s exile, Ramírez’s vision of the Ortega regime’s savagery never overwhelms his exuberance or appreciation of the Nicaraguan people’s humanity, their capacity for irony, resilience, and resistance.

“The novel, episodic and long on colorful characters, often resembles a reunion. . . Banter flows, and references to pop culture and Nicaragua’s recent political turmoil abound. A lively valedictory caper from an ebullient storyteller“―Kirkus Reviews

“[Sergio Ramírez’s] life is a burning mixture of a double passion: words and justice. Words like a delirium, like a game, like a challenge, like a pleasure. Justice turned into the daily eagerness with which he loves, denies and fights for Nicaragua.”―Ángeles Mastretta

Sergio Ramírez was born in Masatepe, Nicaragua in 1942. His first book was published in 1962; he earned a law degree the year after. In the 1970s he became active as leader of the Group of Twelve, consisting of intellectuals, businessmen and priests united against the Somoza regime. With the triumph of the Sandinista Revolution in 1979 he presided over the National Council of Education and in 1984 was elected vice-president of Nicaragua. In 2017 he was awarded the Cervantes Prize, the highest award for Spanish-language literature, and the only Central American author to have received this honor. In 2021, upon the publication of Dead Men Cast No Shadows, he was driven into exile and in 2023 stripped of his Nicaraguan citizenship. He lives in Spain.