Night of the Crow

The island of Gothard is a law unto itself. Separated from the mainland by a long bridge, it has its own chancellor and popular jury. The island is run by two powerful families, the Faols (who own the silver mine) and the Crthaigs (who own the bank). Decisions are taken by popular vote in the main square, Wolf Tongue. But when the schoolteacher and his family turn up dead in the house next to the lighthouse, Beth police force is called to the scene. The inspector in charge of the case is Gonalves. He lives in Beth, a city that has two faces according to how much money you have, though he originally hails from Galataz in the north of the country. He is haunted by the memory of his wife, Anne Marie. The other officers on the case are Pietre, a sex addict who smokes too much, and La, whose father suffers from Alzheimer's and whose great-grandfather was from the island. Aidan Faol, the chancellor, doesn't take kindly to outside interference, and Gonalves will need to have all his wits about him if he is to get to the truth of why the schoolteacher and his family were murdered. This will involve unearthing some dirty secrets about the island itself and will force Gonalves to confront his own past in one of the best crime novels to have come out of Galicia in the last twenty years.

Abel Tom has worked as a journalist and a welder. He has written two novels in the Galician language, Night of the Crow (2018) and Night of the Wolf (2019). His writing is precise, intense, ironic, and displays a keen ability to introduce the reader to new settings and their attendant myths. Night of the Crow was shortlisted for the Illa Nova Award, which the author won with Night of the Wolf (forthcoming).