Tabajara Ruas has become well known for his novels which are set in southern Brazil. He has chosen historical themes as in Netto perde sua alma (“Netto loses his Soul”), as well as contemporary actions which are set against the backdrop of the military regime and the repression in his country, like A região submersa (“The submerged Region”) with first editions in Portugal and Denmark in 1978), a novel which could only be published in Brazil in 1981. An altogether exciting crime story told with linguistic precision and which has not lost anything of its topicality. The same goes for the novel O amor de Pedro por João (“Pedro’s Love for João”). In his gripping thriller O fascínio (“Fascination”), playing with fantastic elements from the classical ghost story, Tabajara Ruas shows how the past can catch up with the present, while depicting a man from better social circles who does not shrink from continuing the crimes of his predecessors.

In the crossover novel Perseguição e cerco a Juvêncio Gutierrez (“The Persecution and Encirclement of Juvêncio Gutierrez”), the 13-year-old first-person narrator is watching a soccer match while his uncle J.Gutierrez, who is being hunted by the police for smuggling, returns to his hometown. A clash with the police is inevitable. For the boy the uncle is an important figure of identification. The soccer match and the arrival of the uncle take place simultaneously and are masterfully linked in the narrative. The author perceptively describes the transition to adulthood, the awakening of sexuality and the growing awareness of political and social conflict.

When run-down private detective Cid Espigão tries to solve a client’s case, he gets drawn into an adventure that leads him from the underground of Porto Alegre to the Brazilian jungle and Acapulco. Fighting against alligators, beautiful women and a powerful tyrant, Cid barely manages to stay alive. Written in a self-ironic tone, O detetive sentimental (“The Sentimental Detective”) is a lively road movie in the guise of a crime story.

In Os varões assinalados (“The Bold Heroes”), Ruas writes about one of the most important historic events of southern Brazil, the Farroupilha Revolution. In prison, Bento Gonçalves meets the Italian freedom fighter Giuseppe Garibaldi. They flee and build a new republic whose fate soon lies in a single battle… Packed with action and true to detail, this captivating novel shows us both sides of the civil war.