Blood Wedding: A Sub-Inspector Max Romero Mystery Set in Granada

by P.J. Brooke

Book Overview

Inspector Max Romero investigates the death of a Muslim girl in Granada, Spain. The prime suspect may have terrorist links, but insensitive handling of the case leads to his suicide. As a result, Max... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1569475296
• ISBN13: 9781569475294
• Release Date: December 2008
• Publisher: Soho Constable
• Length: 364 Pages
• Weight: 1.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 5.9" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

Wonderful Read

Just finished the book - kept me in bed until 11am this morning - avoiding doing other work, because I really, really wanted to get to the end. "Blood Wedding" is about how the past can poison the present, bringing together a contemporary murder investigation in a village near Granada, in southern Spain and a back story about the disappearance of a young poet in the Spanish Civil war The history, politics and descriptions feel very real, and the plot twists and turns, with a great false ending. It has an appealing cast of characters (with the exception of some fairly loathsome corrupt cops), headed by young and idealistic half Scots, half Spanish sub inspector Max Romero, and his charismatic grandmother, Paula, sister of the poet who disappeared. Blood Wedding will appeal to people who enjoy Donna Leon's Venetian mysteries. Anyone who loves Spain, or is planning a trip there should really read it. ...

What a great read!

What a great read! - a detective novel with an intriguing plot involving the murder of a young Muslim girl, international terrorists and modern political machinations all set against a backdrape of the Spanish Civil War. The book has good characterisation, maintains a brisk pace and is written by those who clearly understand and love the culture and history of the region. I look forward to the next book in the series.

Blood Wedding

In sub-inspector Max Romero, P.J.Brooke have succeeded in creating a most sympathetic character. Closely tied in to Andalucian cultural life, and living within a balcony view of the Alhambra, Romero's half Scottish background places him at a slight remove from the murky waters of local police practice and Spanish national politics. Those who enjoy a detective novel which is well contextualized both in terms of Spain's civil war past and the global present will find this an absorbing read which keeps you guessing to the end.

P J Brooke's Blood Wedding

As Ystad has a Wallander and Oxford a Morse, so Granada should have a Romero! And so half Scottlish and half Spanish Sub-Inspector Max Romero bursts on to the crime scene of the world, bringing this beautiful Andalucian town alive, in his first outing in P.J. Brooke's Blood Wedding. We are living in parallel universes: Blood Wedding is a contemporary murder mystery, but at the same time it is also a meditation on another, older murder mystery in the Franco era. The contemporary world of Diva, a fictitious little town in the Sierra Nevada not far from the real city of Granada, where a young female researcher Leila died in suspicious circumstances, intertwines with the world of the Spanish Civil War, when Federico Garcia Lorca, Spain's most famous poet, was killed by the rightwing military. The mystery of Lorca's death was: who had betrayed his hiding place which directly led to his murder? As we follow Sub-Inspector Romero's tortuous investigations of Leila's murder, we are led into the parallel, fascinating story of Lorca's death. This is not a conventional "who done it" kind of crime fiction, but one which is acutely aware of political contexts of the post-9/11 world. The murder mystery is never quite solved, and we are left wondering what really happened. Was there a terrorist link to the death of Leila? Was it a crime of passion? Or perhaps as Brother William of Baskerville once famously said (at another crime scene), "there was no plot and I discovered it by mistake"? In Blood Wedding, there are also the beginnings of a love story - but how that would evolve through the series is still anybody's guess. We can also place bets on how Max's extended family, including his beloved grandmother Paula, the matriarch of the Romeroes, might fare in the next episode, or the next one. We might even wonder about any future Glaswegian connections.... Apart from the two stories of murders and intrigues, one could even say there is a third story, subtly weaving its way through the work, in the form of the epigraphs that appear in most chapters. Many, but not all, of the epigraphs are quotes from Lorca's poetry and plays. This story is the story of the act of writing - as the epigraph of Chapter 20 says, "without the memory of history, it is impossible to build a free society" (from the inscription on a memorial near Granada). Blood Wedding is no doubt a way of contributing to this memory. The creators (for this is a book written by a husband-wife team) of Max Romero know Granada intimately, and they also know the town on which Diva was based like the back of their own hand. Their local knowledge is of paramount importance in bringing the two places to life. It would not be surprising that the Sub-Inspector's devotees would soon be flocking to Granada to tread the streets and alleyways in the neighbourhood of Max's flat, or to sample the various eateries and watering holes that he frequents. This is a highly recommended read, and will n

interesting historical police procedural

In 1947 in Diva, Spain near Grenada, the villagers are stunned by the murder of beautiful vivacious graduate student Leila Mahfouz, who was writing her thesis on the impact of the Spanish Civil War on this village. Scottish-Spanish Sub-Inspector Max Romero, who serves as the police liaison to the large Muslim community, helps the local cops investigate the homicide since the prime suspect has ties to the Muslims. However, politicians see an opportunity to seize more power since a Muslim is involved; more so when the prime suspect commits suicide. They launch a controversial inquiry into the "European Training Centre for Young Muslim Entrepreneurs". Romero also must cope with affluent influential antiterrorists who want the Muslim center closed and its leaders locked away using the Mahfouz murder as a convenient excuse. He also believes the homicide is more likely tied to her research into mid 1930s Diva; perhaps even the death of poet Federico García Lorca over a decade ago. This is not an easy read as there are so many subplots and threads that go in various directions, which eloquently but sprawling brings to life time and place. The fully developed characters also enhance the feelings that the reader is in 1947 in a small village in Spain comprehending life after WWII under the reign of the only surviving Fascist dictator. Fans who appreciate an interesting historical police procedural will want to read this engaging look at an official investigation during Franco's reign. Harriet Klausner