WINNER OF THE CWA DAGGER FOR CRIME FICTION IN TRANSLATION

"A gem of a book, easily the best I've read this year. A contemporary police procedural with a literary edge. I was rooting for the flawed, but deeply compassionate Melchor Marín from the first page to the last. Highly recommended" M W Craven

Two dead at the Adell house . . .

But nothing in the duty officer's report can prepare Melchor Marín for what he finds. A wealthy couple tortured to death in an almost ritualistic manner. The little town of Gandesa in the backwater region of Terra
Alta, Catalonia, is suddenly at the eye of a media storm.

Melchor is no stranger to notoriety. He was sent to Terra Alta to lie low after foiling a terrorist attack. And, before
that, he was jailed for his role as driver for a Colombian drug cartel, his decision to join the police inspired by a
desire to avenge his mother's murder and a copy of Les Misérables from the prison library.

Gradually, the leads in the Adell case dry up, and Melchor is ordered to back off. He doesn't, willing to sacrifice his reputation and career in a ruthless pursuit of the truth. But dusk is already falling on the darkest night of his life.

Translated from the Spanish by Anne McLean

"The portrait of a man who becomes a hero inspite of himself" - ABC.

"A tense thriller from the first page to the last" - Vanguardia.

"A wonderful novel. I look forward to many more Melchor stories" - Tablet

"The first in what promises to be an excellent series" - Laura Wilson

"Striking" - Financial Times

"Stays in the memory . . . Cercas perfectly captures the fearful mood of a town in rural Catalonia after the crime. He has also come up with an unusual detective" - Sunday Times

"Cercas plays fast and loose with literary conventions . . . it will be fascinating to see how the character of Marín, a knight in tarnished armour, develops" - The Times