Urgent Matters

"With frenetic pace and a hypnotic plot, Urgent Matters is an essential read."  --Agustina Bazterrica, author of Tender is the Flesh

An electric Argentinian thriller featuring a deadly train crash, two unidentified bodies, and a missing murder suspect--perfect for fans of Attica Locke and Steph Cha

The Americans are more astute when it comes to matters like these. They say “not guilty”. They don’t say “innocent”. Because as far as innocence goes, no one can make that claim.

A train crashes in the suburbs of Buenos Aires, leaving forty-three fatalities, two of which have not been identified. A prayer card of Saint Expeditus, the patron saint of urgent matters, flutters above the wreckage.

Hugo, a criminal on the run for murder, is on the train. He seizes his chance to sneak out of the wreckage unsuspected, abandoning his possessions – and, he hopes, his identity – among bodies mangled beyond recognition.

As the police descend on the scene, only grizzled Detective Domínguez sees a link between the crash and his murder case. Soon, he’s on Hugo’s tail. But he hasn’t banked on everything from the media to his mother-in-law getting in the way.

Paula Rodríguez is a journalist, editor, co-founder, writer, comedian, ghostwriter, and feminist activist. She has worked for twenty-five years in magazine editorial. Urgent Matters is her first novel.

Sarah Moses is a writer and translator of French and Spanish. She co-translated Sos una sola persona by Stuart Ross and Die, My Love by Ariana Harwicz, which was longlisted for the International Booker Prize, among other awards. Her translation of Agustina Bazterrica’s Tender Is the Flesh was originated by Pushkin Press in 2020. Sarah divides her time between Buenos Aires and Toronto.