2004-07-15 A Decent but Not Gripping Read

This second book in Pawel's series relocates newly promoted Gaurdia Civil officer Carlos Tejada from Madrid to the northern university city of Salamanca in 1940. As Hitler's armies cruise through Europe in the background, things are quieter in Spain following the end of the Spanish Civil War. Although Salamanca wasn't a hotbed of insurgency, there are still ex-Reds and other troublemakers to monitor. One of Tejada's new duties meeting with everyone on a list of questionable people, required to check in with the Guardia on a weekly basis. Coincidentally, one of these is the father of Elena, the Socialist woman Tejada encountered in "Death of a Nationalist." An eminent classicist, he had signed a protest against the firing of a former university rector who had spoken out against Franco. As it so happens, one of his other co-signatories disappears in the first week of Tejada's new assignment. As Tejada painstakingly hunts for clues to the man's disappearance, which may have coincided with the moving of a lot of cash from his estate, the classics professor and his family are faced with a request for succor from a Jewish colleague fleeing Germany.

The proceedings are rather more conventional than the previous book, and the novelty of having a right-wing protagonist has worn off (in interviews Pawel has been careful to call him an anti-hero). Throughout his investigation, Tejada must tread cautiously due to a choleric superior and the influence of Slamancan grandees who are related to the missing man. Elena and her family must tread carefully due to both the precariousness of their situation (limited food rations and income) and the illegality of aiding someone trying to escape the Germans. These two threads gradually bring Tejada and Elena closer together, despite their being on opposite sides of the political spectrum. While the story is rich in period detail and atmosphere, neither plotline is particularly compelling (although a cross-border foray to Biarritz in occupied France adds some much needed spice). It's not a bad read, just not a gripping one, and nowhere near the quality of Death of a Nationalist.