Anthony Whitelands, an English art historian, is invited to Madrid to value an aristocrat's collection. At a welcome lunch he encounters José Antonio Primo de Rivera, founder and leader of the Falange, a nationalist party whose antics are bringing the country ever closer to civil war.
The paintings turn out to be worthless, but before Whitelands can leave for London the duque's daughter Paquita reveals a secret and genuine treasure, held for years in the cellars of her ancestral home. Afraid that the duque will cash in his wealth to finance the Falange, the Spanish authorities resolve to keep a close eye on the Englishman, who is also being watched by his own embassy.
As Whitelands - ever the fool for a pretty face - vies with Primo de Rivera for Paquita's affections, he learns of a final interested party: Madrid is crawling with Soviet spies, and Moscow will stop at nothing to secure the hidden prize.
Eduardo Mendoza is a Spanish novelist, born in Barcelona on 11 January 1943. He studied law in the first half of the 1960s and lived in New York between 1973 and 1982, working as interpreter for the United Nations.
In 1975 he published his very successful first novel, "La verdad sobre el caso Savolta" (The Truth about the Savolta Case), where he shows his ability to use different resources and styles. The novel is considered a precursor to the social change in the Spanish post-Franco society and the first novel of the transition to democracy. He describes the union fights from the beginning of the 20th century, showing the social, cultural and economic reality of the Barcelona at the time. A year later he was awarded the Critic Prize. Within Mendoza's work stands the saga of Ceferino, a peculiar character, a detective locked up in a mental hospital. The first of these novels, "El misterio de la cripta embrujada" (The Mystery of the Bewitched Crypt, 1979) is a parody with hilarious moments mixing detective stories with gothic narrative. In the second novel of the saga, "El laberinto de las aceitunas" (The Labyrinth of the Olives, 1982) he confirms his talent as parodist; the novel is one of his most successful works. The third (and last) novel of the saga, "La aventura del tocador de señoras" (The Adventure of the Powder Room) was published in 2002. His most acclaimed novel is probably "La ciudad de los prodigios" (The City of the Prodigies, 1986), about the social and urban evolution of Barcelona between the Universal Expositions of 1888 and 1929. The newspaper El País published two of his novels by instalments, "Sin noticias de Gurb" (No News from Gurb, 1990) and "El último trayecto de Horacio Dos" (The Last Traject of Horacio Dos, 2001).
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