Summer Snow - Hardcover

Pawel, Rebecca

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1569474087 ISBN 13: 9781569474082

Publisher: Soho Crime, 2006

Synopsis

Praise for the Carlos Tejada Alonso y León series:

“Rebecca Pawel [has] set the mystery world agog.”—Maureen Corrigan, The Washington Post Book World

“The best new mystery author to come around in a long time . . . an astonishing achievement in writing and psychological development . . . she knows how to make a reader care. Her books are intense, the writing impeccable. She propels the plot at a riveting pace. What a pleasure it is to find Ms. Pawel—a major new voice.”—Marietta Dunn, The Philadelphia Inquirer

“[Pawel] frames the difficult and moral questions of the era in the lives of her fascinating characters, bringing history alive.”—Rocky Mountain News

“What distinguishes her among other writers of the genre is her intelligent re-creation of the time period and her ability to get into the minds of the fascist characters.”—Alan Cheuse, The Dallas Morning News

“Wonderful. . . . Pawel resists easy solutions to historically difficult problems.”—Chicago Tribune

In the southern city of Granada, Spain, bastion of the conservative Catholic aristocracy, fear of the Red Menace is still strong in 1945. One rich, arrogant, elderly lady summons the police to her home almost once a week; she is sure Communists are plotting against her. She changes her will almost as often. When she is found dead, the long-suffering local police can’t believe that she really may have been murdered. But as her latest will has vanished, the death must be investigated.

Influence is exerted to have Lieutenant Carlos Tejada Alonso y León transferred temporarily from Potes, in the northern mountains where he has been stationed, to take charge because the rich old lady is his grand aunt Rosalia, and one of the chief suspects is his father. The family expects Tejada to exonerate its members, but Tejada is a man who puts duty first.

About this title

About the Author

Rebecca Pawel is twenty-eight years old and a graduate of Columbia University. She lives in New York City and teaches Spanish and English in a Brooklyn high school. She is the author of Death of a Nationalist, Law of Return, and The Watcher in the Pine. Rebecca frequently travels to Spain.

Reviews

Starred Review. Set in fascist Spain shortly after WWII, Edgar-winner Pawel's fourth mystery to feature Gardia lieutenant Carlos Tejada (after 2005's The Watcher in the Pine) is a triumph of characterization, suspense and atmosphere. The suspicious death of Tejada's wealthy great-aunt, Doña Rosalia, in the city of Granada embroils him and his immediate family—small son Toño and wife Elena—in a case involving the implications of a missing will and the often inexplicable actions of his relatives. While the mystery itself captivates from both a historical and topical perspective, the book's complex characters are even more impressive. A remarkable sequence in which Tejada investigates his cousin Felipe is riveting, but as much for insight into Felipe as for its significance to the plot. Tejada remains fascinating for his suspect morality: a decent man who's also an apologist for a brutal regime. This beguiling novel will richly reward lovers of both mysteries and mainstream literary fiction. (Feb.)
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Edgar winner Pawel (The Watcher in the Pine, 2004) returns to the Spain of the civil-war era. Lieutenant Carlos Tejada Alonso y Leon, a member of the landed gentry who has chosen to join the Guardia Civil, has married Elena, a leftist teacher from a working-class family. When Carlos' great-aunt Rosalia dies, his father asks him to investigate. Dona Rosalia was elderly, extremely demanding, and paranoid, changing her will often. Carlos uses some vacation time for the investigation, bringing Elena and their five-year-old son, Tono, to Grenada. With a missing will, disgruntled servants, and children who have been disinherited, there is no shortage of motives. Carlos is in the awkward position of investigating his own family while shielding his wife and child from his hostile mother. Pawel mixes solid mystery plotting with powerful evocations of Spanish landscape and the postwar era. Fans of the series will be in line for this one. Barbara Bibel
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Soho Crime
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1569474087
• ISBN 13: 9781569474082
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320