Jason Webster

This is a coming-of-age tale about a young man going to Spain after university to discover himself through flamenco. Webster, in this his first book, tells of the two years he spent in Spain, drawn there by the passion and freedom of flamenco. He is looking for that indefinable 'duende', the heady mix of emotion, pathos and truth that all the very best flamenco music has. He wants his soul to be touched and to understand the how and the why. From day one he is an oddity, a blond Englishman show more amongst dark Spaniards, and he wants to learn to play flamenco guitar. Driven by an unrelenting teacher, slowly with aching wrists and bleeding fingers he learns the rhythms and palos. He stumbles from one crisis to another, from Alicante to Madrid and then Granada, playing guitar so much he finally has the stooped shoulders of the guitarists he admired on his arrival in Spain. He falls in love, falls in with gypsies, and sees the dark side of Madrid, but still he feels an outsider - not a Spaniard, not a gypsy, nor a true flamenco artist. It is an honest tale told unselfconsciously, he bares his emotions, shares his mistakes and his glee at the small triumphs. Finally, he discovers what 'duende' means to him.
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A Body in Barcelona – As many twists and turns as Messi

Jason Webster has written the fifth in his Inspector Max Cámara, A Body in Barcelona and once again he brings together many strands of Spanish society to a wider world. This crime thriller has it all, murder, betrayal, revenge and the occasional fascist with a trip across to Ceuta, on the edge of Morocco.

The political tensions are growing once again in Spain, the Catalonians are look for independence and the Madrid government is show more trying to keep them under control. Memories of the last time this happened was in the 1930s which heralded the start of the civil war and the coming of Franco, the last thing Madrid or those in Brussels want.

Cámara has just returned from a commission in Barcelona investigating the death of a civilian by the police, when he and his colleague Torres are summoned upstairs. They are given a case that has been taken from homicide and given to their new Special Crime Unit to investigate the death of a 10 year old boy found in a shallow grave in orange groves north of Valencia. Where, Fermín the illegitimate son of Alfonso Segarra, the fourth richest man in Spain, has been found and there are very little clues or evidence to help them out.

With seemingly no clues Carlos a member of the CNI offers Cámara the possibility of some information on the crime if they could meet and come to an understanding. Cámara has a problem with this, especially as he is a drug smoking anarchist when outside of work. There is something about Carlos that Cámara is uneasy about throughout the thriller.

The information Carlos provides Cámara will take him to Spain’s dirty little secret, Ceuta, Spain’s very own ‘Gibraltar’ in Morocco to arrest a Colonel Terreros of La Asociación de Ayuda para Legionarios, the Legionarios (elite Spanish soldiers) Welfare Association. The association seems to be a front for a right-wing Franco loving military organisation, fundamentally opposed to the breakup of the Fatherland and allow Catalan independence.

Daniel and his son Dídac organise the anarchists in Valencia and run the food bank that is close to where Cámara has his flat with his partner Alicia. Cámara knows them both well and often attends meetings they hold and eats with them, as he is sympathetic to their politics. When a politician is murdered in Barcelona both Daniel and Dídac head there to take the anarchist fight to the people.

At the same time it seems like there is a connection to Fermín’s murder and Cámara heads to Barcelona to continue his investigation and bring it to a close. Cámara rapidly works out that he is not the most popular police officer in Barcelona but he hopes that he will be able to bring the investigation to a successful conclusion.

A Body in Barcelona is a fast paced thriller that mixes many elements successfully which helps to make it a gripping exploration of the political and social tensions in Spain especially where Catalan Independence is concerned. Webster’s prose is as crisp as an iceberg lettuce and the imagery as clear as a digital picture which helps to make this an excellent thriller any reader will love, especially as there are as many twists and turns as Messi. show less

Having recently moved to Spain, I'd bumped this up my TBR pile. Duende is the author's move to Spain in search of 'Duende', a hard to define concept at the heart of Flamenco.

He arrives in Alicante, where he has a contact, Pedro, and between learning Spanish and finding work he looks for a flamenco guitar teacher. At his school he meets sultry, but sulky, Lola, the boss' wife, who dances flamenco with a group of friends. She introduces him to this group, Jason has found his way in.

This could show more be read as a travelogue of Spain, a certain part of Spain, the one connected with flamenco. Jason moves between 3 regions: Alicante, the popular sun-seekers' destination, one of Madrid's gypsy communities and Andalusia, the homeland of the poet and flamenco aficionado Lorca.

It could also be seen as a coming of age book, though Jason is not a child when the book starts. Having finished university, he is offered the opportunity to stay in academia, but, with a broken-off relationship behind him, and a thirst for something new, he goes in search of flamenco and adventure. He makes a new life for himself, many mistakes as well, but without these mistakes, how can you grow up? By the end of the book, he has made it through the other side, and is ready to settle down.

I did enjoy the book, the not as much as Andalus, though probably because the latter had a more interesting topic to me. Flamenco is the glue that binds the narrative together, brings people closer, and Webster does manage to show us this world, a world which is often only glimpsed at by 'guiris' at tourist shows. The quest for 'duende' was also fascinating, how can you describe such a personal feeling. Each culture has some words that are concepts which can only be described by long-winded phrases in another tongue, like 'Saudade' and 'Cozy'.

This book is for people interested in Spain and want to see another side of it, or for people who enjoy travelogues. show less

This is a book 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 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.
The city buzzes with pro- and anti-Catholic emotions, with pro-life and pro-choice campaigners lining up their arguments for the show more 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 [there are now four], 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.
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