Customer Reviews

The Angst-Ridden Executive (A Five Star Title)

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Once again Montalban builds a powerful story around the original figure of Pepe Carvalho, the gourmet, wine loving, eccentric and philosophizing private-eye from Barcelona, Spain. Montalban achieves, once again, a perfect blend of action, unforgettable characters, mystery, politics, sex and cuisine. There isn't anything quite like this in detective literature. A spy-story written by an intellectual for us to enjoy without the guilt. Montalban is a true poet!

This novel is part of the Pepe Carvalho series that made Vazquez Montalban character, the 'Nero Wolfe' of European detective fiction. Large sections of the story are turned over to descriptions of the ingredients in meals cooked by Carvalho and Biscuter, which weight on the story. The story itself is interesting if not that original; rich guys murder manager who has found some financial shinanigans going on. The spanish title translates closer to "The Loneliness of Management" or "The Manager's Loneliness" or the 'solitude', i.e. aloneness.

More to the point is that the ending, is really not an ending and because those novels that are translated into English are not done in a sequential way, which means the reader loses some continuity of the characters. There are sixteen novels in all in the series and as of 2007 only seven have been translated and published in English. They are done helter-skelter and I think it makes the series less coherent. Especially because the books are written just before and after the death of Franco and there is a lot of social commentary in them, it weakens the series as a whole.

As an example, this is the third book in the series, but the first two are not yet available. Most readers know that the idea of the series and especially background on the characters is always heaviest in the first couple of books. Had the first two been available, it might have made this one more understandable, especially the strange ending which is not an ending.

I discovered M. V. Montalban with this book (thanks to suggestions from Amazon.com based on recent purchases). I found the protagonist delightful and humourous as a private detective. The book is an intelligent read - a mixture of literature, languages, recipes, and a surpise ending; character development well-done. I have purchased and read almost all of Montalban's books after reading this one.

"The Angst-ridden Detective" is another very readable and engaging mystery about the Spaniard Pepe Carvalho, private detective, gourmet of food and attractive women, former communist, and anti-intellectual.

In this book Carvalho finds himself drawn into investigating the death of a corporate executive and fellow countryman he had met briefly in California some years past. The suspects in the crime turn out to be five other men who, with the murdered man, formed a group of leftist students who were active in politics in their university days together.

While the story remains central in "The Angst-ridden Detective," Montalban starts to introduce a political slant. He takes potshots at the communists in Spain as well as the far right Franco lovers in various conversations that Carvalho has with suspects and informants and in Carvalho's own memories and ruminations. Political views and economic issues play a key role in the murder. He also uses confrontations between the police and leftist protesters in the post Franco era as a backdrop to the plot.

Montalban adds a new character in this book: Biscuter, a former criminal that Carvalho has rescued from illegal activities and made his assistant. Biscuter lives in Carvalho's office and cooks for him there, always hoping to make dishes that will suit his gourmet boss. Charo, his prostitute girlfriend, is back. Montalban also draws a rich picture of Barcelona, particularly of Las Ramblas, a market-type pedestrian mall in the central part of the city that Carvalho likes to haunt.

The author also spices up this book with even more descriptions of the food the Carvalho prepares to satisfy his gourmet tastes. There is a description of a roast duck casserole in the book that makes my mouth water.

This is a good mystery to read, but it may not be for the typical mystery reader. The political, cultural, intellectual side of the story may not appeal to that group of readers. Carvalho's sensual appetites as far as women goes is a little off-putting to me--and I don't need some of the more explicit description Montalban provides.