Atticus Craftsman never travels without a supply of Earl Grey and his five favourite books – so he makes sure he has packed both after his father, distinguished publisher of Craftsman & Co., sends him to Madrid to shut down a failing literary magazine, Librarte.

When nobody has heard from him in three months, his father knows something must be very wrong.

Do not fear, Inspector Manchego is on the case. No, not the cheese. Manchego, as in the most valiant Don Quijote de la Mancha. Lacking a horse but with hapless derring-do, Manchego gets to work unravelling the mystery of the quintessential Englishman’s disappearance.

But there to block him at every turn are the five fiery and closeknit Spanish women who run Librarte, and who’ll do anything to keep their jobs – even if it involves subterfuge, the long-lost poems of Federico García Lorca and a journey to the gypsy heart of Andalucía . . .