Amid the aroma of the sea and the Galician pines, a young saxophonist is found dead in his swanky flat overlooking the beach. The murder seems to have taken place after an encounter with a lover, but the way he was killed makes it impossible to obtain any more clues about his activities that night: his stomach, groin and thighs are burned and his genitals look hideously like a toasted cashew. Leo Caldas, a disheartened police officer still searching for his place in the world, takes on the case, as it slowly unfolds in the tense, affected atmosphere of affluent Vigo.

'The novel, the author's first, won several prizes and, indeed, shows all the accomplishment of a mature writer who is already a master of the genre.' Reviewing The Evidence

'Several elements of this excellent novel compete for status as the standout feature but in the end they all come together to form the perfect novel.' Reactions to Reading

'A piece of hard-boiled crime fiction … in luminous prose.' TLS