Death on a Galician Shore
Death on a Galician Shore is a detective fiction novel by Domingo Villar. Death on a Galician Shore was published by Agencia Literaria in 2009. In 2011 Villar's book was published in Great Britain by Abacus and translated by Sonia Soto; that year it was shortlisted for the Crime Writers' Association's International Dagger Award.[1]
Plot
Police Investigator Leo Caldas of the Vigo Police Department has been called to the town of Panxon to check on a body of a sailor who has washed up on the northwest shore of Spain. Believed to be a suicide by the townspeople, Caldas is not sure. With help from forensic pathologists, murder is determined. Who and why are the questions Caldas is now concerning himself. While working on the death of the sailor, Caldas learns about a murder ten years ago that could be connected. Caldas is a character dealing with his own problems—the loss of his mother, the new life of his father, a sick uncle, and longing for a former girlfriend.
"SPOILER"
All comes together in the end, where Caldas solves the crimes of a mother Rebeca Neira killed by a former sailor (Marcos Valverde). Too, Marcos Valverde is the killer of the sailor that washed up on the shore of Panxon, due to fear the sailor (Justo Castello) would tell his secret.
Background
Domingo Villar (born in 1971) a Spanish crime writer was born in Vigo, and now lives in Madrid, Spain. This is Villar's second book featuring Inspector Leo Caldas.
Characters
- Inspector Leo Caldas—main character
- Assistant Rafael Estevez-first from Vigo Police to arrive at site of the victim
- Captain Sousa—Captain of ship that sank ten years ago
- Marcos Valverde
- Irene Vazquez—Neighbor to Rebeca Neira
- Ernesto Hermida & Wife—Fisherman and wife (eyewitness to fisherman that is found dead)
- Justo Castello—Sailor that is washed up on the shore
- Rebeca Neira—Female killed ten years earlier
- Diego Neira—Son of Rebeca Neira
Literary significance and reception
Villar's book is the second to use the character of Police Inspector Leo Caldas. In this second book, Villar tells the story of a close knit town on the northwest of Spain, where fisherman return to the water Monday-Saturday to fill their nets and sell their catches. Food is also an important feature to the story. The reader can almost taste the food as it is described by the locals; and speaking of locals, they are a peculiar lot of people that have their own way of living and speaking. The culture of the people plays an important role in the story.
In Maxine Scott's review of the book she states that this is not a "complicated" book, and it was not necessary to have a multiple number of bodies to enhance the story.[2]
References
- "Winners archive — The Crime Writers' Association". thecwa.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-07-31.
- Clark, Maxine (April 2011). "Review - Death on a Galician Shore by Domingo Villar". www.eurocrime.co.uk.
General sources: