The Yankees are more astute when it comes to matters like these. They say "not guilty". They don't say "innocent". Because as far as innocence goes, no one can make that claim. A train crashes in the suburbs of Buenos Aires, leaving forty-three people dead. A prayer card of Saint Expeditus, the patron saint of urgent matters, flutters above the wreckage. Hugo, a criminal on the run for murder, is on the train. He seizes his chance to sneak out of the wreckage unsuspected, abandoning his possessions - and, he hopes, his identity - among bodies mangled beyond recognition. As the police descend on the scene, only grizzled Detective Domínguez sees a link between the crash and his murder case. Soon, he's on Hugo's tail. But he hasn't banked on everything from the media to his mother-in-law getting in the way.

"One of the pleasant surprises of recent months. [...] Very well structured in a short, very enjoyable read" - El País

"With a frenetic pace and a distinctive mix of bitterness and lucidity, this noir novel by Paula Rodríguez is part of the rich Argentine tradition of quality fiction written with the urgency of journalism" - Risbel

"Paula Rodríguez belongs to that group of Argentine noir novel writers that is attracting so much interest lately" - Harper's Bazaar (Spain)

"It has the frantic pace of a story written with an exquisite ear for capturing the small details of the language that prevails in the world of the police, television, new technologies and also religion" - Página 12

"It manages to condense drama and urgency [...] information, reflection and perspective" - Radar

"With the fast pace of a thriller and the tone of deep bitterness that characterizes the noir genre, Urgent Matters constructs a story in which the mysteries become clear to the reader, but they never come to light in the field of justice" - Clarín

"[A] breathless procedural... a notable addition to South American noir" - Times and Sunday Times Crime Club pick of the week

"A vivid and unforgiving depiction of a world in which everyone..is guilty of something" - Guardian

"Written in the taut, clean style of the classic pulp noir... the story barrels along at a ferocious rate" - Irish Times

"Part thriller, part telenovela, Paula Rodríguez's bleakly comic novel is all Argentine in its awareness of how society makes accommodation with corruption... [a] well-wrought tango noir." - The Times (Best thrillers of November)

"This fast-moving novel evokes the teeming metropolis of Buenos Aires in a vibrant fashion, travelling between its poles of social differences and affording insights into a country still divided by race and class" - Crime Time