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The author's first novel starring Vigo (Spain) Police Inspector Leo Caldas, WATER-BLUE EYES, which I reviewed for RTE last year, impressed me enough that I wanted to read its sequel. Though the unique pleasure of discovering a new author is gone, in many ways I like this novel better. Since the Galician fishing village in which the murder occurs is not Caldas' normal territory, his sense of discovery allows readers to participate with him in the investigation. I felt I got to know the characters here better than those in the first novel. The body of fisherman Justo Castelo has washed up on the beach of Panxón. Since he'd gone to sea on the one non-fishing day of the week, everything points to suicide. But the plastic slip-through strap which tied his hands together (theoretically to prevent him from trying to save himself at the last moment) was fastened in a manner impossible for the victim to have achieved. The case must be a homicide, confirmed when the autopsy reveals a blow to the head. But how was the murder pulled off? And what was the motive? As Caldas digs into the case, it becomes clear that the death is somehow connected to the shipwreck that Castelo and two other sailors survived on December 20, 1996, but which took the life of Captain Sousa. Many of the villagers think Castelo was killed by his ghost. In fact, the fisherman himself seems to have been fearful of such a possibility, for he had amulets to ward off evil stashed in his clothes, probably put there by him after someone (or "something") painted "12/20/96" and the word "Murderers" on the side of his boat. All this raises new questions. Why did the shipwreck occur in the first place? The captain knew he was in a dangerous position and had been warned about the storm that caught them; other boats took shelter in nearby harbors. Why did he not? What exactly happened when the boat floundered that has caused the three survivors to avoid each other ever since? Then Castelo's boat is discovered, deliberately sunk in a place where it should never have been discovered. The evidence now suggests that two perpetrators must have been involved. The questions keep piling up with no glimmer of an answer to any of them. Without ever losing reader interest, the investigation seemingly goes nowhere for nearly two-thirds of the novel. (Actually clues are being dropped left and right.) Then suddenly, more of the past prior to the shipwreck appears (beginning with the chapter called "The Threshold"), complicating and changing every theory Caldas has been working with. At this point the plot begins to move at vertiginous speed through a series of switchbacks, introducing new characters and new possible motives, before everything finally falls logically and satisfyingly into place. Once again Villar proves to be fascinated with a cold-blooded killer who wears a most convincing mask of civility. Inspector Caldas' regular radio program, on which callers can complain about police injustices, continues to open doors during his investigation. I wonder, however, if Villar regrets having set up a transfer from Zaragoza, Rafael Estevez, as Caldas' assistant in the first novel. A loose cannon, there he was used for comic effect; here he seems more simply a nuisance. Distant friends continue to ask about Caldas's girlfriend, who they do not know has left him, but she too has less of a presence here. On the other hand, Caldas's father, an amateur wine grower, turns out to be even more interesting than he seemed before. It is he who accidentally provides the clue that unveils the murderer. Readers lose nothing if they begin with this novel. LA PLAYA DE LOS AHOGADOS (literally, THE BEACH OF THE DROWNED ONES) was published in 2009. It won that year's Brigada 21 Prize for best Spanish crime novel, and Villar was named Galician author of the year. The book was also shortlisted for the 2011 CWA International Dagger Award, losing out to THREE SECONDS. It has a different translator from the first novel. I have not seen the original text, but the results at times seem ragged to me. For example, the inspector calls the murdered man a "client." The novel is still well worth checking out. Told in eighty-six short chapters, it is perfect airplane fare. § Drewey Wayne Gunn is professor emeritus of Texas A&M University-Kingsville. He is currently editing a collection of scholarly essays on 1960s GAY PULP FICTION: THE FORGOTTEN HERITAGE.
Reviewed by Drewey Wayne Gunn, September 2011
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