Set in Seville, Spain, with recurring themes of bullfighting, this crime fiction tale involves murdered priests, transvestites, heroin addicts, bordellos, nightclubs, and more. Inspector Jefe Velázquez is an unusual protagonist who is often mistaken for being a criminal rather than a police detective. His girlfriend, Pe, is set to become the most daring and beautiful female bullfighter in all of Spain. But he doggedly pursues this mystery despite where it leads and the risk to his reputation and more,

I recommend it for those who like to travel the world but don't have the money for travel

I would like to thank Netgalley and Holland House for a review copy of The Long Siesta, a police procedural featuring Inspector Jefe Velázquez of the Seville police.

Velázquez is called out to a murder scene where an old priest has been brutally murdered. With lying and disappearing witnesses, another death, some distractions in his personal life and pressure from above he has his work cut out.

The long Siesta is a fairly simple read. The plotting is good and holds the attention but it has no depth. Velázquez stumbles from one scenario to the next with no real analysis, just reaction, perhaps because he is a heroin addict. I'm aware that there are functioning addicts but this addiction doesn't ring true and can be viewed as his quirk because it doesn't seem to affect his life or his job, apart from needing a fix. How he came by the addiction is somewhat shrouded in mystery but probably inspired by The French Connection.

This novel is an easy way to pass a few hours as the plot will hold your attention but not ask you to think too much.