The Intrigue by Silvia Moreno-Garcia Summary: A Twisted Noir of Deception and Decay
TL;DR: The Swindle, The Blackmail, The Body Count
Set in 1943 Mexico, The Intrigue follows Ulises Linares, a broke swindler who targets wealthy spinster Perla Inclán in the fog-bound town of Puerco Ahogado.
Perla’s sharp-eyed niece Inés sees through him and blackmails him into splitting the take.
A fake romance becomes a real marriage, then murder.
Two deaths follow before a final stairway fall exposes Perla’s buried crime.
Ulises and Inés escape together, and a 1946 epilogue shows them running high-end cons in Mexico City and planning to expand to Havana.
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The Players: Characters In This Book
| Character | Role |
|---|---|
| Ulises Linares | A charming swindler who romances lonely women for money. |
| Inés Inclán | Perla’s niece and a talented seamstress who orchestrates the deadly shift in the plan. |
| Perla Inclán | A tightfisted spinster and owner of the Inclán guesthouse who hides a murderous past. |
| Cándido Sotomayor | The town’s arrogant lawyer and Perla’s suitor who blackmails the conspirators. |
| Professor Nepomuceno | A resident alcoholic and former teacher whose death becomes the first casualty of the plot. |
| Bartolo | A young policeman infatuated with Inés who later suspects foul play. |
| Beto | The lazy older police chief who avoids paperwork and investigations. |
| Lulú Sotomayor | Cándido’s hypochondriac sister used as a distraction by the conspirators. |
| Encarnación Inclán | Inés’s mother whose death is revealed as murder. |
| Don Osorio Inclán | Perla’s stern father whose business failure began the family’s decline. |
| Fito | The young houseboy and driver for the Inclán household. |
| Rita and Estrella | The guesthouse’s maid and cook. |
The Intrigue Book Summary: From Seduction to Shared Bloodshed
Spoilers ahead. This section recounts the full story, including the ending.
The story opens in 1943 Mexico City. Ulises Linares is a professional swindler who relies on his handsome face rather than his late father’s criminal mind. Down to his last pesos, he weighs two potential marks.
He chooses Perla Inclán because the train fare to her town is cheaper. Puerco Ahogado sits in the Veracruz mountains under constant light rain and dense fog. The town is full of formerly wealthy coffee families now fallen on hard times.
The Inclán house is a decaying relic with mahogany furniture and pinned butterflies but no modern plumbing. Ulises meets Inés, Perla’s niece, who is treated like a servant. Inés finds his letters from other marks and deduces he is a fraud.
Instead of exposing him, Inés blackmails him into splitting whatever he steals from Perla’s 90,000-peso nest egg.
Their first move is removing Cándido Sotomayor, Perla’s longtime suitor and the town’s lawyer.
They trick his hypochondriac sister Lulú into leaving town for medical care.
With Cándido gone for three weeks, Ulises shifts his seduction strategy and pressures Perla into a civil marriage.
But Perla refuses to give her new husband access to her bank accounts. She expects him to serve as chauffeur and houseboy.
Feeling trapped, Ulises and Inés turn to murder. Their first poisoning attempt goes wrong when Professor Nepomuceno drinks the sherry instead.
When Cándido returns and witnesses a romantic moment between the pair, he blackmails them.
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They lure Cándido to the Devil’s Chair ravine, kill him with a rock, and push his car over the cliff.
The climax arrives during the festival of San Fidel de las Cumbres. Ulises decides to flee with whatever cash and jewelry he can carry.
Perla discovers a letter exposing the fraud. In the final confrontation, Perla reveals she murdered Inés’s mother Encarnación years ago. Perla tries to shoot Inés, loses her balance, and tumbles down the stairs—echoing the earlier death.
Ulises returns to rescue the wounded Inés. They flee together.
A 1946 epilogue shows a young policeman named Bartolo spotting a transformed Inés in a Mexico City restaurant. She and Ulises are now full-time criminal partners planning their next scheme in Havana.
Spoilers included. The chapters are grouped into logical narrative parts rather than listed individually. Ulises arrives in the humid, fog-shrouded Puerco Ahogado to target Perla. He finds himself unnerved by her sharp-tongued niece Inés. While he performs the role of a refined gentleman, Inés realizes he is a fraud and uses his own criminal tools against him. The section introduces the family’s decaying history and the guesthouse as a cage for both women. Inés blackmails Ulises into a partnership to steal Perla’s hidden wealth. They work together to remove Cándido’s influence by orchestrating Lulú’s “illness.” Ulises pivots his seduction style and pressures Perla into a hurried civil marriage. The section highlights the calculating nature of both conspirators as they navigate town gossip. The attempt to poison Perla ends in tragedy when Professor Nepomuceno dies instead. This brings the police and the town’s superstitions to their doorstep. Inés discovers letters revealing Perla kept her from her father, hardening her heart. Flashbacks reveal the origins of Perla’s resentment. A private investigator from the city nearly exposes Ulises. Inés saves the scheme with a lie about their romantic history. As tensions rise, Ulises and Inés succumb to a physical attraction that complicates their partnership. Perla’s own dark secrets begin to surface as she struggles to maintain her social standing. Read Also: Dig Book Summary: A Terrifying Southern Gothic | James Markert During the festival of San Fidel, Cándido catches the pair and demands a payout. Faced with ruin or jail, Ulises and Inés lure Cándido to the cliffs and commit a brutal murder. The aftermath is marked by fear and the realization that their crimes have not yet yielded freedom. Ulises attempts to abandon the plot. A final confrontation between Perla and Inés reveals the truth about Encarnación’s death. Perla’s fatal fall down the stairs mirrors the crime she committed years before. Years later, the duo emerges in Mexico City as polished swindlers eyeing their next score in Havana. Read Also: The Safe Room Book Summary: A Noir That Hits Where Family Secrets Bleed
Summary by Chapter: Six Narrative Movements
The Mark and the Mirror (Chapters 1–5)
The Unholy Alliance (Chapters 6–10)
The Shadow of the Past and the First Death (Chapters 11–13)
The Detective and the Descent (Chapters 14–17)
The Devil’s Chair (Chapters 18–20)
The Final Intrigue and the Escape (Chapters 21–Epilogue)
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