Tattoo

Tattoo

"One of the finest examples of European 'noir' literature."€”John Harvey"Montalbán writes with authority and compassion€”a Le Carré-like sorrow."€”Publishers WeeklyPepe Carvalho, ex-cop, ex-Marxist, and constant gourmet, is working as a private detective in Barcelona when a body is pulled out of the sea, its face so badly destroyed that the only way of indentifying it is through a tattoo that says "Born to raise hell in hell."Manuel Vázquez Montalbán was born in Barcelona in 1939. He won both the Raymond Chandler Prize and the French Grand Prix of Detective Fiction for his thrillers. He died in 2003. Former cop and current Barcelona PI Pepe Carvalho is content with his life, eating the best foods and dating a high-class prostitute. He only takes on cases that intrigue him, such as that of the tattooed man found washed up on a public beach with no leads to his identity except the tattoo (“Born to raise Hell in Hell”) inscribed across his back. When a local shopkeeper asks Pepe to find out who the man is, Pepe agrees, and soon the trail takes him to Amsterdam, one of his favorite cities. Just as when Carvalho is home in Barcelona, good eating often take precedence over the investigation at hand, and sightseeing only addss to the burden. The slow pace of the investigation is enlivened by Montalban’s descriptions of both Barcelona and Amsterdam, as well as by the fully fleshed secondary characters, from Pepe’s hooker girlfriend to the hairdresser who initially hires him. Recommend this one to fans of Roderic Jeffries’ Enrique Alvarez, the Mallorcan inspector with a taste for good food and slowly paced investigations that easily matches Carvalho. --Jessica Moyer Manuel Vázquez Montalbán was born in Barcelona in 1939. He was a journalist, novelist and creator of Pepe Carvalho, a fast-living, gourmet private detective. Montalbán won both the Raymond Chandler Prize and the French Grand Prix of Detective Fiction for his thrillers, which are translated into all major languages. He died in October 2003. Used Book in Good Condition