Black Sun Rising

Starred review from April 13, 2020
Set in 1909, this superior mystery from Carr (The Devils of Cardona) opens with a literal bang when a bomb planted in a Barcelona, Spain, café blows up a foreigner. The victim may be Randolph Foulkes, an English explorer, who’s been missing since the blast. Mrs. Randolph Foulkes, who suspects that her husband is the dead man, wants to hire a fellow countryman to confirm it—and also to figure out why he left a bequest to an unknown woman. Henry Lawton, an English private investigator, accepts Mrs. Foulkes’s lucrative offer to travel to Barcelona to investigate. Once there, he’s able to confirm Foulkes’s death through a comparison of fingerprints. Identifying the relationship of the beneficiary to the dead man proves trickier. The reported presence in Barcelona of a blood-drinking murderer known as the Raval Monster complicates his search. Carr excels at incorporating early 20th-century Spanish political developments into a suspenseful and clever plot line. Philip Kerr fans will be pleased. Agent: George Lucas, Inkwell Management.

May 1, 2020

A bomb kills an English scientist in 1909 Barcelona, and his wealthy widow wants to know the identity of the woman he was seen with just before the explosion. Irish-Hispanic detective Harry Lawson, ailing yet game for the adventure, is recruited by Scotland Yard for this private assignment. He arrives in the Spanish city just as political tensions are about to boil over. The trail leads to a music hall mesmerist and then to a spate of mysterious deaths, where the bodies have been drained of blood. Add a French secret agent, a German operative, and a variety of anarchists, and there is a plethora of bad possibilities and narrow escapes, in addition to the investigation of the dead husband. The finale takes place in a hidden laboratory, at the end of la semana tragica, a real event that provides more background and historic personalities for this thriller. VERDICT Carr's second crime novel (following The Devils of Cardona) is perfect for readers who like 1930s-era movies featuring foreign locales, perverted villains, and intrepid detectives.--W. Keith McCoy, Edison, NJ

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2020
In June 1909, the random terrorist bombing of a Barcelona caf� seemingly kills British scientist Sir Randolph Foulkes, sparing his female companion, who left moments earlier. Mrs. Foulkes wants to know the identity of this woman, to whom her husband had just given a large sum of money, and she hires PI Harry Lawton to get the information. Lawton suffers from epilepsy but is still able to extricate himself from perilous situations, a useful skill in the chaos of Barcelona that summer, with a general strike threatening and insurrection looming. The question of marital infidelity that launched Lawton's case soon pales when bloodless bodies, possibly victims of the Raval Monster, start turning up. With the help of a crime reporter and a French secret-service agent, Lawton uncovers a stunning plot with profound implications. As in his debut novel, The Devils of Cardona (2016), Carr combines fiction with fact (including historical characters). The result is a vivid portrayal of Barcelona's Tragic Week of political and social conflict, a skillfully crafted account that is ultimately as much history as mystery.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)