To The Last Page

El rey recibe is the first of a trilogy where Mendoza blurs the line between autobiography and real life, playing it for humour. The protagonist is Rufo Batalla, young man starting out on a career in journalism in 1968 who gets his unexpected break covering a royal wedding for a small Catalan newspaper's society column. During the Franco years, the public's interest in royalty remains undiminished, with the coverage of Grace Kelly still memorable for its impact, not least in popular gossip magazines. This royal wedding doesn't seem quite as promising but, inevitably with one of Mendoza's protagonists, complications ensue as he runs into any number of eccentric characters. Batalla doesn't get too far in his plans and hopes for furthering his career. After an encounter with a young woman the day before, he ends up being late for the wedding at a hotel in Mallorca, and when he does turn up he is bundled off to a room at the hotel by the minders. He might have missed t...

There's not a lot of raising of the dead going on in Johannes Cabal the Detective , the necromancer far too busy striving to keep himself from getting into that state himself, with little chance of resurrection. Imprisoned for attempting to steal an occult book from a library in Mirkarvia, he finds his stay of probable execution at least temporarily put aside at the behest of the nation's military commander. The Emperor has unfortunately expired before he can rouse his citizens to invade their neighbours, and a necromancer can come in handy for just such an eventuality. Once accomplished, not without ensuring some characteristic mischief and petty but necessary payback for the indignities suffered while in a Mirkarvian prison cell, much of the remainder of Johannes Cabal the Detective sees the necromancer acting indeed as a detective. On an airship. That's his mode of transport escaping from the Mirkavian authorities in the guise a minor civil servant for the Department of...