Publisher's Weekly Review
The murder of Barcelona socialite Mariona Sobrerroca propels this accomplished debut from the pseudonymous Moliner (the writing team of Rosa Ribas and Sabine Hofmann), set in 1952. Insp. Isidro Castro, of the Criminal Investigation Brigade, takes charge of the inquiry, but he must answer to Commissioner Goyanes, his superior from the Social Investigation Brigade, the Franco regime's political force. The powers that be want the murder of this prominent woman solved ("In a country where peace and order supposedly reigned, local crimes weren't supposed to bring that image into question"). Meanwhile, reporter Ana Martí realizes that there's more to the story than the police think or want to think. She enlists her relative Beatriz Noguer, a literary scholar whose Communist sympathies make Beatriz unemployable in Barcelona, to do some literary sleuthing into letters connected with the crime. While too much exposition slows the narrative, the oppressive atmosphere of Franco's Spain is palpable and frightening. (Nov.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
The 1952 murder of a famous socialite in Franco's Spain brings an aspiring young newspaperwoman up against the oppressive regime. There's a lot of ground to covernarratively, historically, politicallyin this debut mystery, and after a shaky start in which the reader struggles a bit to keep track of the wide array of characters being introduced, the author settles into her tale nicely. Newspaper people often make for good sleuths, and Ana, from a family of journalists that includes a father kept from working because of his opposition to Franco, is a winning mixture of wised-up, eager, and canny. She holds her own with the martinet police inspector assigned to the murder, and she's helped by her older cousin Beatriz, a scholar forced to sell off her precious possessions (especially her books) to survive. Spain's Fascist regime gives the novel a ready-made atmosphere of fear and suspicion. But the real measure of that time is in the details rendered with the familiarity of something closely observed. Details like the marvel of a family being able to afford stewed beef for lunch, of living quarters grown more cramped and shabby, become stand-ins for the grind of life in an established dictatorship, for the way decent people experience the narrowings of their material, emotional, and intellectual lives. If this first mystery is, as many are, the introduction of a detective for a new series, then this young reporter may prove to be a character readers are eager to follow. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* After Spain's fascist Falangist regime blacklists her father from his post as editor of Barcelona's La Vanguardia newspaper, Ana Martí Noguer is fortunate to secure the lowly society beat. Then her editor gives her a serious news story: the murder of society widow Mariona Sobrerroca. She's to shadow inspector Isidro Castro, who is known as much for his brutal methods as for his unequaled success in solving crimes. Castro insists that the murder was an interrupted burglary, until Ana finds evidence that Mariona had a secret lover she met through personal ads. Determined to report the whole truth, Ana enlists her cousin Beatriz, a blacklisted linguist, to help her find the mysterious Octavian, who codes his love letters with literary quotes and opera characters. In 1952 Barcelona, fear of the security police permeates daily life, and when Ana and Beatriz's investigation connects the murder to top regime officials, they must manipulate the city's constantly shifting political forces to stay alive. The tension in this gritty debut lies in the detailed descriptions of Barcelonans in the grip of state control, which gains a more brutal edge played against the cozy-like presentation of the mystery. A fascinating angle on an ever-intriguing period that combines the characterization of Laurie R. King's Mary Russell series with the breathless tension of Tom Rob Smith's tales of the Stalinist Soviet Union.--Tran, Christine Copyright 2015 Booklist
