In the small town of Galicia, a young saxophonist is found dead in his swanky flat. The murder seems to have taken place after a sexual encounter: there are two whiskey glasses in the living room, and the dead man is tied by the wrists to the headboard of
Water-Blue Eyes
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Water-blue Eyes is simply a perfect short crime novel, 176 pages long. It is a debut novel, but the character of Inspector Leo Caldas has lived a life before the book opens, and I am sure continues to live outside its pages. When we first encounter him, however, he his fulfilling his weekly stint on the local radio station's phone-in programme "Patrol in the Air" in which he answers questions from listeners between musical numbers. Caldas really does not like the programme or this part of the job, partly because most of the callers complain about noise and other matters for the city police, not relevant to homicide, the department in which he works. By the end of the introductory chapter, and this week's edition of the programme, Caldas has noted in his book "City police, nine; crazies, two; Leo, nil".
The novel is set in the town of Vigo in the Galicia region of Spain, which sounds extremely beautiful. Galicia is in the north-west of the country, with Vigo in the south-western part. Along the Atlantic coast are archipelagos, little islands and rias (drowned valleys). Inevitably, progress and commercialism are eating into the distinguished, long history of the region, and Caldas's case takes him to one such project - a huge apartment block on a tiny offshore island connected to the mainland by a bridge. It is in one of these apartments that a body has been found.
One of the many joys of this book is the mismatched partnership of Caldas, imbued in the traditions, proud history, and rambling, leisured manner of the region; and Rafael Estavez, the huge, irate, sweaty sergeant who has been transferred under some kind of a cloud from his native Zaragoza and assigned to Caldas by his boss, Salo, to keep him out of trouble and out of his hair, as far as possible.... Read more ›
The novel is set in the town of Vigo in the Galicia region of Spain, which sounds extremely beautiful. Galicia is in the north-west of the country, with Vigo in the south-western part. Along the Atlantic coast are archipelagos, little islands and rias (drowned valleys). Inevitably, progress and commercialism are eating into the distinguished, long history of the region, and Caldas's case takes him to one such project - a huge apartment block on a tiny offshore island connected to the mainland by a bridge. It is in one of these apartments that a body has been found.
One of the many joys of this book is the mismatched partnership of Caldas, imbued in the traditions, proud history, and rambling, leisured manner of the region; and Rafael Estavez, the huge, irate, sweaty sergeant who has been transferred under some kind of a cloud from his native Zaragoza and assigned to Caldas by his boss, Salo, to keep him out of trouble and out of his hair, as far as possible.... Read more ›
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Only two of the books by Domingo Villar have been translated into English. Both very good reads with a sense of place, Vigo and Galicia in Spain. Good characterisation and plot. Hope more are in the pipeline!!
By Rob Kitchin
Format:Paperback
There is much to admire in Villar's writing style, which is concise and expressive, and Water-Blue Eyes is a pleasurable read. Leo Caldas, as the disillusioned and weary inspector, and his assistant, the explosive Rafael Estevez, are engaging characters, though somewhat enigmatic due the general lack of back story. In this sense, Villar does a great job at following the `show don't tell' maxim, but the result is I never really felt I got to know the characters that well beyond broad pointers. I think this is partly a function of length. At 167 pages, space delimits the extent to which one gets to know the principal characters using this storytelling technique. The length also restricts the plot, which is interesting but relatively straightforward, that has a twist at the end. The plot could have been fleshed out a bit more, especially the ending which is wrapped up conveniently and too quickly. Basically, I wanted more! Whilst I did find elements of the book a little disappointing, Water-Blue Eyes has enough positives - such as it style, dry wit and sense of place - to make me want to read the next book in the series. Indeed, my sense is that Caldas and Estevez hold much promise as a fictional partnership, and Villar's assured writing will make for an engaging and entertaining read.
By Maria2222
TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
Disheartened inspector Leo caldas investigates the horrible killing of a young saxofonist with his temperamental subordinate Estévez in this atmospheric, but not that exciting, murder mystery.
The writing is good and the descriptions of location and characters are great, but I kept having to re-read passages as my mind wandered because the mystery itself just wasn't compelling enough to keep me interested for long.
A quick read and a good travel mystery, but needed a bit more oomph
The writing is good and the descriptions of location and characters are great, but I kept having to re-read passages as my mind wandered because the mystery itself just wasn't compelling enough to keep me interested for long.
A quick read and a good travel mystery, but needed a bit more oomph
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
As an experiment, I read five detective novels over Easter. The one common factor was that they were all in translation. I thought it would be interesting to compare. They were
Borkmann's Point by Hakan Nesser
This Night's Foul Work by Fred Vargas
Havana Blue (Mario Conde Mystery 3) by Leonardo Padura
The Montmartre Investigation: A Victor Legris Mystery by Claude Izner and
Water-Blue Eyes by Domingo Villar
This book starts well, albeit with a couple of false notes to do with the fact that the victim was a saxophonist, but recovers (for me) by referring to books by Hegel, Camilleri and Cela.
The book is about Galicia rather than Spain (I know little of Galicia, save for the no-doubt-unfounded rumours of how its fishermen can afford Mercedes and BMWs, so I take on trust what the writer says; it makes for good reading anyway). It even has a chapter about the pleasure of eating sardines, which perhaps gives a flavour of what you might expect.
The central characters are Caldas and his assistant Estévez (who is just as interesting as Caldas, and the contrast between his Aragonese character and Caldas' Gallego creates tension as well as humour). The unusual method of murder leads the police on a search for a particular item rather than seeking first a suspect - which is an unusual and inauthentic method of investigation, but suspend your disbelief, for it is worth it - and involves a few twists before the murderer (in a slightly Christie-like confrontation) confesses.
This was a good first novel. The translation was largely good, let down occasionally by what appear to be gaps in the translator's knowledge, which led to his lapses like "isquemic" and "lophoscopic", apparently Anglicized versions of the original words.
Borkmann's Point by Hakan Nesser
This Night's Foul Work by Fred Vargas
Havana Blue (Mario Conde Mystery 3) by Leonardo Padura
The Montmartre Investigation: A Victor Legris Mystery by Claude Izner and
Water-Blue Eyes by Domingo Villar
This book starts well, albeit with a couple of false notes to do with the fact that the victim was a saxophonist, but recovers (for me) by referring to books by Hegel, Camilleri and Cela.
The book is about Galicia rather than Spain (I know little of Galicia, save for the no-doubt-unfounded rumours of how its fishermen can afford Mercedes and BMWs, so I take on trust what the writer says; it makes for good reading anyway). It even has a chapter about the pleasure of eating sardines, which perhaps gives a flavour of what you might expect.
The central characters are Caldas and his assistant Estévez (who is just as interesting as Caldas, and the contrast between his Aragonese character and Caldas' Gallego creates tension as well as humour). The unusual method of murder leads the police on a search for a particular item rather than seeking first a suspect - which is an unusual and inauthentic method of investigation, but suspend your disbelief, for it is worth it - and involves a few twists before the murderer (in a slightly Christie-like confrontation) confesses.
This was a good first novel. The translation was largely good, let down occasionally by what appear to be gaps in the translator's knowledge, which led to his lapses like "isquemic" and "lophoscopic", apparently Anglicized versions of the original words.
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