"If you’re going to write a novel where cleverness is the chief point, then it must be very clever indeed." (Salon.com) Awardwinning Spanish crime novelist José Carlos Somoza’s work is dazzlingly clever, seductive, intellectual and sometimes disturbing. Born in Cuba, Somoza trained as a psychiatrist in Spain before becoming a full-time writer. Two of his six novels have been translated into English. The first, The Athenian Murders (2002), won the 2002 Crime Writers Association Macallan Gold Dagger Award. Set in Ancient Greece, it is both a murder mystery and a rumination on the relationship between translators and texts, readers and fiction. The more recent The Art of Murder (2004) depicts a contemporary and morally dubious art world in which live models have become highly sought after canvases that are both publicly exhibited and privately owned. The murder of one of the canvases prompts an investigation that reveals the sinister side of art. Provocative and fascinating, Somoza’s novels are deeply satisfying both as explorations of culture and as murder mysteries.

 

 

Also appears in:

Wed 15 Mar, 12.30pm

Embassy Theatre

Thu 16 Mar, 7pm

The White Swan, Greytown

 

Concession Pass to 15 Writers Upfront sessions of your choice: $150 [FR $140]

 

 

19 Mar, 10:00am