Description: Spain, summer 1937. The civil war between Spanish nationalists and republicans rages. On the bloody sierras of Aragon, among Generalissimo Franco's volunteers is Martin Bora, the twenty-something German officer and detective whose future adventures will be told in Lumen, Liar Moon, The Road to Ithaca and others in the Bora series.
Presently a lieutenant in the Spanish Foreign Legion, Bora lives the tragedy around him as an intoxicating epic, between idealism and youthful recklessness.
The first doubts, however, rise in Bora's mind when he happens on the body of Federico Garcia Lorca, a brilliant poet, progressive and homosexual. Who murdered him? Why? The official version does not convince Bora, who begins a perilous investigation. His inquiry paradoxically proceeds alongside that which is being carried out by an "enemy" Philip Walton, an American member of the International Brigades. Soon enough the German and the New Englander will join forces, and their cooperation will not only culminate in a thrilling chase after a murderer, but also in a very human, existential face-to-face between two adversaries forever changed by their crime-solving encounter...
Review Quotes:
"TIN SKY is the best crime novel of the month. Terror and suspicion on the Eastern Front. We hail a bold series set in the Second World War. This fine novel is packed with tense moments and moral ambiguity.' Times
"In TIN SKY Pastor effectively melds a well-constructed whodunit with a grim portrayal of the Eastern front." PW Starred Review
"A DARK SONG OF BLOOD is historical crime fiction at its best, vividly re-creating the atmosphere of a city occupied by an increasingly desperate army. ' Sunday Times
"The historical milieu of these books is grim, but Pastor's character examinations are precise and engrossing.' Kirkus
"The tone of LIAR MOON has a flu-like grimness, appropriate the 1943 setting. Pastor is excellent at providing details (silk stockings, movie magazines, cigarettes) that light up the setting." Booklist
"Pastor succeeds at painting a memorable picture of Fascist Italy through the lens of ordinary police procedure carried out under extraordinary circumstances."Publishers Weekly
"An impressive and intelligent novel." The Times
"LUMEN's plot is well crafted, her prose sharp... a disturbing mix of detection and reflection."
Publisher's Weekly
"And don't miss LUMEN by Ben Pastor. An interesting, original and melancholy tale." Literary Review