by C.J. Sansom
Published: 2006
Publisher: Pan Books
Genre: Historical, Mystery, Spain
Paperback: 549
Rating: 4
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First sentence(s):
Bernie had lain at the foot of the knoll for hours, half conscious.
Into this uncertain world comes Harry Brett, a privileged young man who was recently traumatized by his experience in Dunkirk and is now a reluctant spy for the British Secret Service. Sent to gain the confidence of Sandy Forsyth, an old school friend turned shadowy Madrid businessman, Brett finds himself involved in a dangerous game and surrounded by memories. Meanwhile, Sandy’s girlfriend, ex-Red Cross nurse Barbara Clare, is engaged in a secret mission of her own—to find her former lover Bernie Piper, whose passion for the Communist cause led him into the International Brigades and who vanished on the bloody battlefields of the Jarama.
My two-bits:
Not so much a murder mystery, but more a historical of post the Spanish Civil War period in Madrid.
The state of the people, politics and espionage are covered.
A romance and an unexpected end kept me reading through this chunkster.
* part of Books, Inc. Foreign Intrigue Book Club (here)
