Murder in the Central Committee

By Manuel Vázquez Montalbán

Book Overview

"Montalban writes with authority and compassion-a le Carre-like sorrow."-"Publishers Weekly The lights go out during a meeting of the Central Committee of the Spanish Communist Party; Fernando Garrido, the general secretary, has been murdered. Pepe Carvalho, who has worked for both the party and the CIA, is well-suited to track down Garrido's murderer. This, the best-known title in the Pepe Carvalho series, features everything that is wonderful about the books: sex, politics and a most vivid sense of Spain.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0897331257
• ISBN13: 9780897331258
• Release Date: January 1985
• Publisher: Academy Chicago Pub
• Length: 203 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.

Customer Reviews

great fun!

The book is so engaging one reads it almost breathlessly. The historical context and the diversity of characters makes it lots of fun. I disagree with the previous reviewer that Montalban's discussion of our hero's culinary knowledge and talents detracts from the book -- on the contrary, all discussions of food and wine are fascinating and delicious. Warning: do not read on a empty stomach!

Highly intelligent and realistically hardboiled

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.