Read Your Way Around the World - Mysterious Spain

Read Your Way Around the World invites you to Spain.

Beautiful Spain with its beaches, islands and Mediterranean climate combined with its long and rich history make it a wonderful backdrop for murder and mayhem. Enjoy these recent mysteries all with a delightful Spanish setting.

Primivera Blackstone is a Scottish detective living in Spain with her young son. The fifth in the series As Serious as Death by Quintin Jardine has Primivera encountering a blast from her Scottish past in the form of retired cop Ricky Ross, with whom she pairs up to investigate a series of assaults on a millionaire airline owner. An amateur detective novel with a touch of romance.

Apparently there is an international saffron mafia and Max Camara learns about this and is compelled to investigate the murder of a young woman when he returns home to Spain in The Anarchist Detective by Jason Webster. This is a fast-paced and absorbing mystery with memorable characters.

Murdered by Nature by Roderic Jefferies features Inspector Alvarez whose pleasant day is ruined by a drowning victim whose death might not have been an accident. In this 36th entry in a long standing mystery series, Alvarez continues to be plagued by his interfering Chief Salas and he links this death to another unexpected death of an wealth Englishman. A police procedural featuring a likable and charming detective.

Simon Bognor investigates the poisoning of a former British gangster in Poison at the Pueblo by Tim Heald. Bognor is head of Special Investigations at the Board of Trade and a thorn in the side of his Prime Minister. Against advice he uses this murder to investigate other retired British criminals in Spain. "Wit a la Wodehouse, tempered with occasional harsh reality, adds up to a winner." Booklist

From Barcelona with Love by Elizabeth Adler features singer Bibi Fortuna who fled to Barcelona and subsequently vanishes after being arrested for murder and released. Bibi's daughter hires Mac Reilly and Sunny Alvarez to solve the case once and for all and to find her mother. This is Reilly's and Alvarez's fourth adventure and the couple find themselves not only solving a murder, but also traveling to Barcelona where Reilly becomes reacquainted with a past love.

Hemingway Cutthroat by Michael Atkinson is a little bit historical fiction, a little bit mystery and a little bit imaginative biographical fiction. Hemingway is a journalist in Spain when a political official is murdered. Despite the fact that the local authorities show little interest in the crime, Hemingway is determined to solve it. "Verdict Atkinson again does a superb job capturing the younger Hemingway's persona-he's rich, famous, lusty (threesomes with hotel whores), drunk (only half the time), smart, determined, and not taking any crap! Although Hemingway lived one of the 20th century's most remarkable and adventurous lives, Atkinson's version is even better!" Library Journal