The Summer Snow

Word is that this is the last in the series of four books about a Spanish fascist policeman in the early post-Civil War period (the Spanish one that is) and his much more liberal wife. It's a pity if so, they are all excellent books. I do feel it was not quite up to the standard of the first three; however, meeting the protagonist's aristocratic family alone is worth the reading.

This is the fourth book in the series and they get better book by book. It is still basically a period piece but the mystery actually isn't quite obvious until the very end after which our chief protagonist still has one more surprise. However the author nails the class structures and the way the wheels grind in a police bureaucracy.

We are doing this book for my book group. A satisfying mystery exploring life in post civil war Spain.

NY Times - Best fiction 2006
Pawel adds to her marvelous series of mysteries set in Facist Spain the story of a detective charged with finding his aunt's killers and saving his aristocratic family from scandal.