Unexpectedly delightful! I now wish I’d started at the beginning of the series, but sometimes when I do that I wish I’d just tried a book from somewhere in the middle. Can’t win really.

I had to look up the background to this book, set in the aftermath of the Spanish civil war, as I was entirely hazy on the whole concept. I was surprised to find the main character, Tejada, on Franco’s side (sort of). But it becomes clearer as the book goes on that there is more to it than that. I’m guessing that the relationship with his wife Elena, which adds a lot to the political balance of the story, was built up in the previous books. This would have been a poorer book without Elena.

I’ll have to look up the other books in the series.