DEATH RITES

Tough, sexy, at times apparently pitiless, Petra Delicado is a new kind of cop in Spanish crime writing. As she battles with sexist colleagues, ruthless reporters, indifferent witnesses, and hardened criminals, she sometimes thinks her thirst for new challenges and perpetual change is more trouble than it’s worth. Inspector Delicado has been chained to a tiresome desk job in the documentation department of the Barcelona police force for months. But things are about to change. The department is short-handed and there’s a serial rapist on the loose. Delicado is partnered with the portly and impossibly compliant Sergeant Fermín Garzón with orders to solve the case before it succeeds in ruining the good name of the Barcelona police force. However, the only lead they have is the rapist’s mysterious signature: a circular mark of unknown origins he leaves on his victims’ forearms. No witnesses, no other leads, and no help from the victims themselves. To further complicate her life, Inspector Delicado is dealing with two ex-husbands, the belittling Hugo and incompetent Pepe.