Title: Highly intelligent and realistically hardboiled
Product review: I was surprised how uncompromising Montalban was about taking us through party politics in post-Franco Spain -- which turned out to be much more interesting than I might have anticipated. There is enough violence to keep one concerned, several fleshed-out characters, a sense of reality throughout. If I have a quibble it's that the reader is subjected to rather too much about what a gourmet the hero-detective is. Otherwise, it was smartly done and I'll read Montalban again.
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