Promotional Information

An intriguing, absorbing noir mystery about murders in a tiny church in Seville that draw the attention of the Vatican.

About the Author

Arturo Perez-Reverte was born in Cartagena in 1951. Since the publication of The Fencing Master, his first novel, Perez-Reverte has become one of Europe's bestselling authors. The Flanders Panel was awarded the Grand Prix Annuel de Litterature Policiere in France. His novel, The Dumas Club, has been made into the film The Ninth Gate by Roman Polanski and starring Johnny Depp.

Reviews

Classy and brimming with panache
*Independent*

Energetic, atmospheric writing
*Literary Review*

Recounted with panache and subtlety, The Seville Communion is one of those infrequent whodunnits that transcend the genre
*Time*

A beautifully and intricately written noir in which unique plots and counterplots abound
*San Francisco Examiner*

Mysterious, deadly conflicts between history and modernity drive Spanish author Pérez-Reverte's latest literate thriller (after The Club Dumas, 1997), an engaging tale of love, greed, faith, betrayal and murder set in contemporary Seville. When a computer hacker penetrates Vatican security to send an urgent, anonymous plea to the pope, Father Lorenzo Quart of the church's Institute of External Affairs‘a sort of Vatican CIA‘is dispatched to investigate. The hacker's message concerns a troubled 17th-century church in Seville, Our Lady of the Tears. Apparently, the dilapidated church "kills to defend itself." It stands in the way of a huge real estate deal, and two people have died there‘in apparent accidents‘as they brought pressure to condemn it. A handsome dandy who wears expensive black suits instead of a cassock and knows how to conduct himself in a fistfight, Quart prides himself on his discipline but soon finds it heavily taxed as he's embroiled with a bellicose, elderly parish priest, a blue-jeaned American nun and a stunning Andalusian duchess intent on saving the church from the businessmen (including her husband) who threaten it. Despite some unconvincing plotting and a few heavy-handed moments, Pérez-Reverte's characters capture the imagination, and his dramatic Seville seduces his protagonist and readers alike. 75,000 first printing; $100,000 ad/promo; film rights to Canal Plus and Iberoamericana. (Apr.) FYI: The Seville Communion is appearing simultaneously with Vintage's paperback issue of The Club Dumas.

Classy and brimming with panache * Independent *
Energetic, atmospheric writing -- Ben Farrington * Literary Review *
Recounted with panache and subtlety, The Seville Communion is one of those infrequent whodunnits that transcend the genre * Time *
A beautifully and intricately written noir in which unique plots and counterplots abound * San Francisco Examiner *