The Watcher in the Pine (Soho Crime) [Paperback]

In 1940, following the end of the Spanish Civil War, Guardia Police Lieutenant Carlos Tejada is assigned his first command position in the remote mountainous village of Potes. Tejada has mixed feelings about leaving his post in Salamanca, but the idea of being in charge has been an ambition of his even if the area is known by his peers as the Devastated Region from the destruction caused by the war. However, the locals including his police force of the northern Spanish village do not welcome the outsider or his pregnant wife Elena, a Republican sympathizer in spite of her husband's official position in the Fascist government.

Carlos learns that his predecessor was killed by guerrillas and hopes to adjust to being an unwelcome outsider. Someone steals crates of dynamite that Carlos expects will be used by insurgents unwilling to accept defeat. Not long afterward a rebel is murdered. As Carlos investigates with no one cooperating inside the police, the village or his household, all signs point to a clever merciless guerrilla funded from outside Spain willing to kill to further his ambition of reigniting the war starting in Potes.

The police procedural elements are intriguing as the audience sees the efforts of an honest cop struggling to do his job in a dictatorial government. The story line showcases a bleak life for those who survived the civil war and how much no one trusts the opposition. This puts in perspective modern places like Sri Lanka. Though the mystery arrives late in the tale and, THE WATCHER IN THE PINE is a fabulous historical who-done-it.

Harriet Klausner

"The Watcher in the Pine" is Rebecca Pawel's third novel featuring Carlos Tejada Alonso y Léon, and each book is more intriguing than the previous. Set in post Civil War Spain, the author accurately paints a grim portrait of a country settling into the "normality" of an uneasy peace. Atrocities have devastated both sides of the conflict. The populace's "us" versus "them" attitude will continue for many years, and even in 1941, battle scars are still fresh, as are memories of dead loved ones, and festering political wounds. Many areas of Spain are in ruins, and food shortages leave much of the population hungry - some are literally starving The descriptions of the humiliation, defeat and isolation of those who did not support Franco's cause is made palpable throughout Ms. Pawel's intelligent narrative. However, while Spain strives toward peace, law and order, the rest of the world is in the throes of WWII.

Carlos Tejada is one of the most well developed characters that I have met in recent popular fiction, as is his new wife Elena. They are both extremely bright, well educated, decent people, and polar opposites politically. He is the second son of a wealthy landowner, a conservative, and a staunch Nationalist. He backed Franco from the beginning. Now, as a lieutenant in the Guardia Civil, Tejada's Falangist views have been moderated somewhat through maturity, experience, and the influence of his spouse - the former Elena Fernandez, Socialist daughter of a distinguished Classics professor at the University of Salamanca. Carlos studied law at this university before joining the Guardia during the war. The couple met in Madrid, where she worked as a schoolteacher, while Tejada was investigating a murder. When Elena was dismissed from her position because of her leftist politics, she returned to her family's home in Salamanca, where Tejada had been transferred and promoted to the position of lieutenant. The two eventually marry here, after weathering some major adventures and solving a few mysteries.

Lt. Tejada is extremely pleased to accept a promotion and his first command with yet another transfer, this time to the Cantabrian village of Potes, a remote outpost in the Picos de Europa Mountains of northern Spain. He sees this relocation as an opportunity to lead his own men, and to get away from his difficult former commander. Tension had also developed between himself and some of his fellow officers when they realized he was marrying into a "red" family. Elena is now pregnant and not as content with the new post as her husband. After all, the area is extremely isolated and this is her first pregnancy.

The Tejadas arrive in the middle of a blizzard and there is no one to meet them. The officers at the small post are not exactly welcoming, nor were they expecting a woman - certainly not a pregnant woman with leftist leanings, (all documented in her file). Since there are no adequate quarters for a married couple, the two find lodgings at a local fonda. Tejada takes command of the small force, which appears to be sorely lacking in discipline. He also discovers that the former Guardia commander was killed by the maquis, the Republican guerillas, who still operate in the pine forests and periodically shoot at the patrols. Although the war has been over for almost two years, the small town is a center of smuggling and guerrilla activities. Sergeant Márquez, Tejada's immediate subordinate, is a man of questionable judgement, and the other officers, although good at following orders, are limited.

Within days of the Tejada's arrival, it is discovered that two shipments of dynamite have been stolen from Devastated Regions, a government agency responsible for rebuilding what the war destroyed. In the Devra Valley almost everything was destroyed. Carlos is beside himself. If the maquis have taken the dynamite, then every bridge and building in the area are in danger. Events really seem out of control when the corpse of a local man is found by the river. Unfortunately, Elena discovers the body.

Elena has become caught up in the problems of the town's inhabitants, who shun the Guardia...and her. She is obviously lonely, and her politics and friendly nature make her extremely sympathetic to the locals and their various plights. She discusses opening a school with the area's priest and, perhaps, teaching there.

This rich historical novel is much more than a mystery, although the sleuth-work and suspense are riveting. The characters themselves are the story - and a most compelling one. Obviously Carlos and Elena go through an adjustment period, as do all newlyweds. However, it is rare that a Falangist Guardia Civil officer and a Socialist, university educated woman, choose to make their lives together - at least not in the early 1940s in Franco's Spain. Their commitment to each other, however, to form a good life together, in spite of their differences, seems to me to symbolize the future hope of Spain. The supporting cast and sub-plots are also extremely compelling. Ms. Pawel spent more than a month in Potes, researching her novel. Highly recommended!

JANA

The Civil War is over and Lieutenant Carlos Tejada has received his first independent command so he, and his very pregnant bride, Elena Fernandez, move to the small mountain village of Potes. It quickly becomes clear this was not the idyllic posting they'd hoped. Arriving in a snowstorm, there is no one to meet them. There are no quarters suitable for a couple so they rent an apartment in a less than friendly tavern. The officers of the small Guardia Civil post are anything but welcoming to Tejada, especially as the Sergeant broadly hints of his knowledge regarding Elena's Republican sympathies. But are events leading to a new outbreak of the War? Guerilla activities are increasing, dynamite has disappears, a cache of weapons is found and attacks soon become very personal to Tejada.

I so enjoyed this book. Although written in the third person, we are allowed to listen in on Tejada's and Elena's thoughts showing us their very human insecurities, fears and frustrations. The relationship of Tejada and Elena wonderfully exemplifies a newly married couple, with different personalities, still getting to know each other. The inequality of women during this period in Spain, particularly in a small village, adds interest to the plot. Although the situation of civil unrest is the mystery in the story, it's the characters who kept me involved.