A
Dead Man in Barcelona
A
Seymour of Scotland Yard Mystery
Michael
Pearce
Soho
Constable (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-56947-537-7 (1569475377)
ISBN-13: 978-1-56947-537-9 (9781569475379)
Publication Date: December 2008
List Price: $25.00
Synopsis (from
the publisher): Barcelona, 1912, a city still recovering from the
dramatic incidents of the so-called "Tragic Week" when Catalonian
conscripts bound for the unpopular war in Spanish Morocco had rebelled
at the city's dockside against the royalist forces. In the fighting,
many were killed, and afterward, even more imprisoned, including an
Englishman, who was later found dead in his cell.
The dead man had been a prominent businessman in Gibraltar, so what was
he doing in Barcelona? And how did he really meet his end, murdered in
a prison cell? The case, in Gibraltar's view, cries out for
investigation -- and by someone independent of the Spanish authorities.
So Scotland Yard dispatches Seymour of the Special Branch.
Review:
Sandor Seymour of the Special Branch of Scotland Yard investigates a
cold case, the mysterious death of an Englishman some two years
previous, in A Dead Man in Barcelona,
the fifth mystery in this series by Michael Pearce.
Sam Lockhart, a businessman based in Gibraltar, had been arrested as
part of a general crack-down by the Spanish government during what was
popularly known as "Tragic Week", a week in mid-summer 1909 when
conscripts from Catalonia were ordered to fight a war in Spanish
Morocco but rioted instead. "And this man Lockhart was mixed up in it?"
asks the Deputy Commissioner. "Apparently," replies Seymour. "It sounds
even less our kind of thing," says the Deputy Commissioner. "In fact,
it doesn't sound our kind of thing at all." It turns out the man was
poisoned in his cell, murdered by any other name. The Spanish
authorities, years later, still haven't issued their official report.
"But two years ... when is the report expected?" asks Seymour. "Soon,"
the prison governor replies, "Soon." Still, Seymour jumps at the chance
to investigate, if not for truly altruistic reasons. For it is in
Barcelona that he arranges to meet Chantale, the woman he intends to
marry.
At scarcely 200 pages, A Dead Man in
Barcelona
is a mystery of modest length, yet it is filled with rich details of
the period and place. But this is a hallmark of the books in this
series, where the reader is transported back in time and immersed in
the events being investigated by Seymour. More driven by character than
plot, the narrative nonetheless introduces several potential lines of
inquiry for Seymour to explore. In the end, he says, "The difficult
thing for me was to distance myself from everyone's suggestions.
Everyone thought they knew the answer and was eager to give it to me.
Before they had been asked the questions."
A
Dead Man in Barcelona is a
solid entry in this series that, although comparable in many ways to
the author's mysteries featuring the Mamur Zapt, continues to establish
its own unique identity.
Special thanks to Soho Press for providing an ARC of A Dead Man in Barcelona for this review.
Review Copyright © 2009 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Have you read A Dead Man in Barcelona? How would you rate it?
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A Dead Man in Barcelona
Soho Constable (Hardcover), December 2008
ISBN-10: 1-56947-537-7 (1569475377)
ISBN-13: 978-1-56947-537-9 (9781569475379)
Omnimystery
keywords for A Dead Man in Barcelona
...
Location(s) referenced: Barcelona, Spain.
