Tag Archives: novels set in Spain

#BookReview ‘A Death in Valencia’ by Jason Webster @Jwebsterwriter #crime #Spain

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A Death in Valencia by Jason Webster is about more than a singular death, it is an exploration of the nature of death and what constitutes murder. Max Cámara, the Valencia detective introduced by Webster in Or the Bull Kills You, cannot sleep: his street is being dug up as the new Metro line is being built, the summer heat pulsates, and Valencia is crazy as it prepares for the arrival of the Pope. Jason Webster The city buzzes with pro- and anti-Catholic emotions, with pro-life and pro-choice campaigners lining up their arguments for the Pope. Meanwhile the police force prepares security for the visit, as a developer is ripping up the old fisherman’s quarter El Cabanyal to build new apartment blocks. On the first page, a dead body is washed up on the shore. A well-known paella chef.
Max has eaten the chef’s paella but is taken off the case to help hunt for a kidnapped woman, a gynaecologist who performs abortions. The eve of the Pope’s visit is the worst possible time for this to happen. As always seems to happen in crime novels, two seemingly separate incidents are linked. The link, in this case, is carefully plotted so I didn’t spot it until the end. For me, this is a deeper more intelligent novel than the first in the Max Cámara series, perhaps because the author is settling into the genre and the character.
I must add that Valencia simply rocks in this book, it comes alive off the page, the heat, the tension, the grief. I can smell the summer dust.

Read my reviews of other books in Webster’s Spanish detective series:-
OR THE BULL KILLS YOU #1MAXCÁMARA
THE ANARCHIST DETECTIVE #3MAXCÁMARA
BLOOD MED #4MAXCÁMARA

If you like this, try:-
‘Wilderness’ by Campbell Hart #1ARBOGAST
‘The Ice’ by Laline Paull
‘In the Blood’ by Steve Robinson

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview A DEATH IN VALENCIA by Jason Webster @Jwebsterwriter via @SandraDanby http://wp.me/p5gEM4-19d

#BookReview ‘Or the Bull Kills You’ by Jason Webster @Jwebsterwriter #crime #Spain

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Or the Bull Kills You is the first of a series of novels by Jason Webster about Spanish police detective Max Cámara. The setting is Valencia during Fallas, the five-day festival of fireworks and bonfires. Jason WebsterA bullfighter is murdered, a controversial bullfighter, in a city undergoing local elections and with a strong anti-taurino lobby. Webster has chosen his setting well. Valencia is a noisy, shouting, breathing presence on every page. The bullfighting is strange, a world of customs and special language, its symbolism machismo. Into the middle of all this walks the Fallas-hating, bullfight-disapproving detective Cámara who’s having a difficult time with his girlfriend. And he’s being reviewed at work for his behaviour in a previous case.
Is there one killer or two, and what about the dead bullfighter’s artist boyfriend and his very-public fiancé?
Webster keeps the page turning with ease, juggling a good detective story with authentic Spanish culture. Something different.

Read my reviews of other books in Webster’s Spanish detective series:-
A DEATH IN VALENCIA #2MAXCÁMARA
THE ANARCHIST DETECTIVE #3 MAXCÁMARA
BLOOD MED #4 MAXCÁMARA

If you like this, try:-
‘The Killing Lessons’ by Saul Black
‘Wolf’ by Mo Hayder
‘Butterfly on the Storm’ by Walter Lucius

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview OR THE BULL KILLS YOU by Jason Webster @Jwebsterwriter via @SandraDanby http://wp.me/p5gEM4-10J

#BookReview ‘The Ignorance of Blood’ by Robert Wilson @RobWilsonwriter #crime #Spain

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A car accident. Millions of euros. A Russian gangster drinking champagne in the middle of nowhere. The opening scene of The Ignorance of Blood, fourth in the quartet of books by Robert Wilson featuring Seville detective Javier Falcón, does not disappoint. Robert Wilson The intricate plotting is spot-on. I read this book voraciously as Falcón struggles to get to the whole truth, admiring the way the author weaves together the story strands from the preceding three books so that at the end you understand though you did not guess.
I did not get the ending right, I expected something different. There are moments when you wonder if Javier can continue, will he step over to the dark side, will his emotional strength desert him? This is the most international of the four books, with Javier travelling to London and Morocco but Seville retains its hot sultry presence. I can smell the dusty heat of the evening where the detectives seem to exist on coffee and cruelty lays just out of sight.
I’m sorry this is a short review, I can’t write more without giving away the plot. There were moments when I wanted to shout ‘don’t do it’ and others when I thought with sad acceptance ‘yes, that’s the only thing you can do’. At the end, I wanted to start reading the series all over again.

Here are my reviews of the other books in the Javier Falcón series:-
THE BLIND MAN OF SEVILLE #1FALCÓN
THE SILENT AND THE DAMNED #2FALCÓN
THE HIDDEN ASSASSINS #3FALCÓN

If you like this, try:-
‘The Blood Detective’ by Dan Waddell #1NIGELBARNES
‘Hiding the Past’ by Nathan Dylan Goodwin #1MORTONFARRIER
‘The Guest List’ by Lucy Foley

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE IGNORANCE OF BLOOD by Robert Wilson @RobWilsonwriter via @SandraDanby http://wp.me/p5gEM4-18j

#BookReview ‘The Hidden Assassins’ by Robert Wilson @RobWilsonwriter #crime #Spain

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The pace of The Hidden Assassins by Robert Wilson does not stop. The setting: Seville, Spain. The beginning: a mutilated corpse is found on a rubbish dump. The first turning point: an explosion at a block of flats turns out to be a terrorism attack on the mosque in the basement. Or is it? Detective Javier Falcón is swept along by the media circus and political panic as fear of a widescale attack on Andalucía grips Spain. Robert WilsonThis is the third of Robert Wilson’s four-book series about Falcón and the story twists and turns relentlessly. The plotting is excellent, I challenge you to work out the answers. As Javier unravels the knots you don’t know what to believe and neither does he.
I am fascinated by the insight into Falcón’s life provided by glimpses of his cooking. His housekeeper leaves his food in the fridge for him to prepare in the evening. He is something of a cook. “Encarnación had left him some fresh pork fillet. He made a salad and sliced up some potatoes and the meat. He smashed up some cloves of garlic, threw them into the frying pan with the pork fillet and chips. He dashed some cheap whisky on top and let it catch fire from the gas flame. He ate without thinking about the food and drank a glass of red rioja to loosen up his mind.” And then he goes out to work again. It is 10pm.
I will not give away the plot details, but there are sub-plots too involving characters who featured in books one and two: Javier’s ex-wife Inés and her husband the judge Esteban Calderón, his ex-girlfriend Consuelo, his sister Manuela.
As always, Seville is an additional character. Its streets, the heat, the lifestyle. It makes me want to go there now.

Here are my reviews of the other books in the Javier Falcón series:-
THE BLIND MAN OF SEVILLE #1FALCÓN
THE SILENT AND THE DAMNED #2FALCÓN
THE IGNORANCE OF BLOOD #4FALCÓN

If you like this, try:-
‘Liar Liar’ by MJ Arlidge #4HELENGRACE
‘Lord John and the Private Matter’ by Diana Gabaldon
‘The Various Haunts of Men’ by Susan Hill #1SIMON SERRAILLER

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE HIDDEN ASSASSINS by Robert Wilson @RobWilsonwriter via @SandraDanby http://wp.me/p5gEM4-Zq

#BookReview ‘The Silent and the Damned’ by Robert Wilson @RobWilsonwriter #crime #Spain

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The Silent and the Damned is second in the Javier Falcón series by Robert Wilson. Santa Clara is a wealthy neighbourhood of Seville where people stay inside their elegant air-conditioned homes and don’t mix much with their neighbours. Very un-Spanish. And then people start dying. Robert WilsonFirst, a husband and wife. Was it one murder and a suicide, or a double-murder? Falcón investigates only to find, living opposite the murdered couple, the wife of his last murder victim [in The Blind Man of Seville]. And this is how Robert Wilson neatly intertwines the back story from the first novel, bringing forward the things a new reader needs to know. Falcón has moved on since then, gone are the formal suits, now he wears a shirt and chinos and seems more relaxed, more at peace with himself. But this is a detective novel, and detectives are traditionally troubled souls so it is not long before the cracks appear.
The deaths keeping coming in the 40° heat, Falcón must deal with the impending marriage of his ex-wife plus the growing suspicion that all is not well at police headquarters. There are links to characters in the first book, dodgy characters, further crimes are hinted at. Will he be allowed to continue his investigation, or will higher powers decree his case unviable? And does Javier Falcón have the mental energy left to care?
An excellent follow-up to The Blind Man of Seville. 

Here are my reviews of the other books in the Javier Falcón series:-
THE BLIND MAN OF SEVILLE #1FALCÓN
THE HIDDEN ASSASSINS #3FALCÓN
THE IGNORANCE OF BLOOD #4FALCÓN

If you like this, try:-
‘The Killing Lessons’ by Saul Black
‘The Returned’ by Jason Mott
‘Wolf’ by Mo Hayder

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE SILENT AND THE DAMNED by Robert Wilson @RobWilsonwriter http://wp.me/p5gEM4-OY via @SandraDanby

#BookReview ‘Blood Med’ by Jason Webster @Jwebsterwriter #crime #Spain

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Page one, Spain waits, the king lies dying. There is the feeling of a nation on the edge. In Valencia, there are homeless on the street, immigrants are being harassed, the police department faces cutbacks despite rumblings of public unrest, and there are not enough drugs for the sick. Blood Med is the fourth in the Cámara Valencia-based detective series by Jason Webster. Jason WebsterThere are two deaths and Cámara and his colleague Torres are given one case each, the hidden agenda is that one of the two men must be made redundant. One death is suspected suicide, the other a brutal murder. In the way of crime fiction, you know there will be a connection but that connection is of course invisible at the beginning.
The detective, orphaned young and raised by his grandfather, now lives in Valencia with elderly Hilario plus Max’s girlfriend, journalist Alicia. Both Hilario and Alicia have key roles in this story. Hilario is a huge influence on Max’s approach to life, and he often recalls his grandfather’s fondness for proverbs when he finds himself in a sticky situation. ‘Visteme despacio que tengo prisa’ he tells himself when he feels the investigation is being rushed. It translates as ‘Dress me slowly, I’m in a rush.’ He feels the investigation has tunnel vision; that it is being rushed and would benefit from a step back. ‘If he could have his way he would send everyone home for the rest of the day to switch off. Go to the beach, go wherever. And have sex – with someone else if possible. If not, whatever. If helped clear the mind.’
This is the most accomplished Cámara novel so far, the setting in Valencia is so strong and the political background feels very real. The ‘corralito’ described [the government decree to close the banks] feels very real.

Read my reviews of other books in Webster’s Spanish detective series:-
OR THE BULL KILLS YOU #1MAXCÁMARA
A DEATH IN VALENCIA #2MAXCÁMARA
THE ANARCHIST DETECTIVE #3MAXCÁMARA

If you like this, try:-
‘The Long Drop’ by Denise Mina
‘Snow White Must Die’ by Nele Neuhaus
‘An Uncertain Place’ by Fred Vargas #8COMMISSAIREADAMSBERG

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview BLOOD MED by Jason Webster @Jwebsterwriter via @SandraDanby http://wp.me/p5gEM4-10N

#BookReview ‘The Blind Man of Seville’ by Robert Wilson @RobWilsonwriter #crime #Spain

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The first time I heard of the Javier Falcón books by Robert Wilson was when the first was dramatized on TV, and unfortunately I missed it. So it was with anticipation that I turned to the first of the four books, The Blind Man of Seville. Robert Wilson My first impression was that it was the longest detective book I’d read in a while, but the reason for this soon became apparent: the back story in Tangiers. In a note at the back of the book, Wilson directs his readers to the full-length diaries he wrote for Francisco Falcón, Javier’s late father, artist, Tangiers resident and key character in The Blind Man of Seville.
It is a complicated novel, entangling the Spanish legal system, bullfighting, the worlds of art and restaurants, Seville, Tangiers and the theme which lurks just below the surface of everyday Spain: the Spanish Civil War. There is something about the first murder which slowly tips Inspector Falcón towards mental breakdown. Like all detectives, the interest lies in his frailties, how he overcomes them and manages to do the day job, how he outwits the criminal mind.
Francisco’s diaries are fascinating; an insight into the Spanish Legion, its time in Morocco and Russia, the brutality and hardships, the sense of brotherhood. At times as Javier reads his father’s story, the story churns his guts; mine too. Anyone who has read anything about the Civil War will anticipate some of the brutality. Wilson skilfully weaves this storyline into the modern-day hunt for a murderer.
This is far from a formulaic detective story. Wilson writes about heavy subjects with a confident hand, and creates atmosphere easily. “The hotel had suffered in the intervening half-century. There was a glass panel missing from one of the doors in his room. Paint peeled off the metal windows. The furniture looked as if it had taken refuge from a violent husband. But there was a perfect view of the bay of Tangier and Falcón sat on the bed and gaped at it, while thoughts of deracination spread through his mind.”

Here are my reviews of the other books in the Javier Falcón series:-
THE SILENT AND THE DAMNED #2FALCÓN
THE HIDDEN ASSASSINS #3FALCÓN
THE IGNORANCE OF BLOOD #4FALCÓN

If you like this, try:-
‘Snow White Must Die’ by Nele Neuhaus
‘No Time for Goodbye’ by Linwood Barclay
‘A Fatal Crossing’ by Tom Hindle

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE BLIND MAN OF SEVILLE by Robert Wilson @RobWilsonwriter http://wp.me/p5gEM4-P1 via @SandraDanby