Or The Bull Kills You
Jason Webster
Minotaur, Sep 13 2011, $24.99
ISBN: 9780312581831
In Valencia, Spain dynamic matador Jorge Blanco has brought a fervor reawakening in bullfighting’s popularity. However, not everyone is enamored with Jorge or his sport as many locals find it barbaric and cruel. Politicians rant in favor of banning bullfighting as they believe that is a key ticket to obtaining or remaining in office. However, someone takes the opposition to a new level by recognizing the threat by charismatic popular Blanco.
In a bulling, the matador’s naked corpse is found with darts in his back, a sword in his ribs, and a Spanish flag pulled tightly around his neck. Nobody on the VPD staff wants the volatile high profile homicide investigation assigned to Chief Inspector Max Camara; his plea of a conflict of interest due to being against bullfighting is ignored. A second similar murder occurs increasing the pressure on Camara to solve the case by the same politicians who also demand the inquiry stay away from their election campaigns.
Or The Bull Kills You is a superb Spanish police procedural starring a somewhat cynical dedicated cop who steps into the bullring, a place he loathes. The country’s culture and heritage, the city, the two faced politicians and the sport provide strong pillars to a terrific whodunit as Camara feels the fishbowl effect as he works a case from inside the bullring with figuratively everyone in the stands watching his investigation.
Harriet Klausner
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