Manuel Vázquez Montalbán

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Barcelonas
Manuel Vazquez Montalban
Manufacturer: Verso
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Angst-Ridden Executive (Five Star Title)

ASIN: 0860913538

Buenos Aires Quintet (Five Star Fiction S.)

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Discover this author

Buenos Aires Quintet (Five Star Fiction S.)
Manuel Vazquez Montalban , and Manuel Vazquez Montalban
Manufacturer: Five Star (ME)
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1852427833

Book Description

"The most metaphysical gumshoe on the streets."-The Times

When Pepe Carvalho's uncle asks him to find his son Raul in Buenos Aires, Pepe is reluctant. All he knows about Argentina is "tango, Maradona, and the disappeared," and he has no desire to find out more. But family is family, and soon Carvalho is in Buenos Aires, getting more caught up in Argentina's troubled past than is good for anybody.

Customer Reviews:

Discover this author.......2005-03-12

I first found out about Manuel Vázquez Montalbán while reading a book by Andrea Camilleri, Italy's most popular living writer, who specializes in literary detective novels. The name of Camilleri's usual protagonist is Commissario Montalbano -- a literary character as famous in modern Italy as Hercule Poirot or Inspector Maigret have been in other times and places. An Italian friend explained that Montalbano's name was an homage to the Spanish writer Vázquez Montalbán, whose work Camilleri greatly admired. And so I became curious about Vázquez Montalban, who, I later discovered, is the most widely-read writer in Spain, and widely popular elsewhere in Europe.

Strangely enough, Manuel Vázquez Montalbán is little-known in the United States, which is a shame, because his books are excellent. Riddled with Spanish (more properly, Catalan, since Vázquez Montalbán was from Barcelona) literary, political, and, most famously, culinary references, perhaps they fail to resonate with the average American reader.

Montalbán's protagonist, Pepe Carvalho, is a man with a checkered past and a bleak present: once a communist intellectual, jailed during the Franco era, briefly a CIA operative, he has become a private detective with an ex-con assistant and a prostitute girlfriend. His superficial nihilism belies a deeply human man with a deep love for Spanish culture and a soft spot for the underdog. He is a perfect centerpiece for Montalbán's picture of a Spain still deeply scarred from the Franco years. Carvalho's one-time faith in the intellectual and the future has been shattered and replaced by deep connection with the sensual - often represented by food, for Carvalho is an obsessive gourmet -- and the immediate present.

It is the mixture of the absurdly funny, the sensual, the literary, and the touching that makes Vazquez Montalban's books successful. Carvalho may take beatings all day during an investigation, come home in middle of the night, cook up an elaborate meal, described in such vivid, almost sexual detail by Vázquez Montalbán that the reader feels that he or she could -- must! -- head to the kitchen immediately to recreate it, and pound upon his neighbor's door at 4 AM to wake him up and share the repast with a carefully-chosen bottle of wine, during which his neighbor Fuster, a Latin scholar, makes classical literature references and critiques the cuisine.

Buenos Aires Quintet is the most ambitious, funny, touching, and ultimately fulfilling, Montalbán I have read yet. Transplant Pepe to an Argentina also scarred from its years of dictatorship, where he goes in search of his missing cousin. "Tango, Maradona, the disappeared," he jokingly says on arrival when asked what he knows about Argentina. Ironically, these themes - and a parade of comic, often sympathetic and sometimes tragic characters - wind their ways through the book. I don't want to spoil the book by revealing too much. Just buy it and enjoy the romp.

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Great, satirical detective story of post Franco Barcelona
PEPE CARVALHO'S FINEST

Southern Seas (A Five Star Title)
Manuel Vazquez Montalban , and Manuel Vazquez Montalban
Manufacturer: Serpent's Tail
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Man of My Life

ASIN: 1852427000

Customer Reviews:

Great, satirical detective story of post Franco Barcelona.......2003-07-13

Highly recommended hard-boiled detective novel that looks at the cultural malaise of Spain in general and Barcelona in particular coming out of thirty years of Fascist dictatorship. Every character in this book has a serious political past and agenda, and they recite their political evolution and handily give the details of which party they recently voted for and why in the same fashion that Law & Order interviewees cynically give the details of their professional pitfalls. The hero Pepe Carvalho is so wacked out he burns books (but why is the question,) and he seems to be an overweight balding alcoholic with gourmand tendencies, but he's still a hit with the ladies. And the story is excellently written, and at once amusing and sad.

PEPE CARVALHO'S FINEST.......2000-02-08

Once again Montalban hypnotizes us with his great story-telling ability, his poetry, his stunning metaphores and unforgettable characters. Detective literature never aimed this high. Winner of many prestigious awards including "The Raymond Chandler Award", Southern Seas introduces us to the figure of Pepe Carvalho, detective, gourmet, wine-expert, philosopher, lover, former member of the Communist Party and the CIA. The setting is Barcelona, Spain, in the post-Franco era. Images of rare beauty and impressive power alternate in this atypical "who done it?" story. Montalban succeeds in elevating the genre to a higher level and, perhaps, creates a genre on its own. More Montalban, please!

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Sophisticated

O Cesar O Nada
Manuel Vazquez Montalban , and Manuel Vazquez Montalban
Manufacturer: Planeta Pub Corp
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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Sophisticated.......2003-04-21

Montalban is not only one of the great spanish (some would insist "Catalan") living writer, but he's also one of it's most dedicated critic. Better-known for it's mysteries involving the strange and disconcerting cop, Carvalho, Montalban has shown in a few other books that he can also master other subjects like history. Most of his non-mystery novels involve some catalan characters in one way or another and this one is no exception. This is the story of the ascension of the Borgia family from obscurity to papacy, and back. Not knowing much else about this particular family of Renaissance Italy, I learned - amongst many other things - that the Borgias were catalan immigres to a family-obsessed and power-hungry Rome. Told with an extremely sophisticated twist, wonderful language, much details and imagination, this novel is pure pleasure. And in the style of some of his other works, there is always that particularly sardonic view of history, its leaders, its heroes, and ultimately some of its major lessons. Namely, that men are not exactly as good a species as they pretend to be.

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The Man of My Life
Manuel Vazquez Montalban , Nick Caistor , and Manuel Vazquez Montalban
Manufacturer: Serpent's Tail
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Off Side (Five Star)
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Murder In The Central Committee (Five Star Fiction)

ASIN: 1852428465

Book Description

"Montalban does for Barcelona what Chandler did for Los Angeles-he exposes the criminal power relationships beneath the facade of democracy."-Guardian

When the son of a rich financier is murdered, Carvalho is called upon to investigate his mysterious death. In his quest for the killer, Carvalho has to infiltrate the world of Satanism and religious sects. Torn between two women-his on-off partner Charo and her eternal hesitations, and the enigmatic Yes, a lover from his youth, the professional and personal merge, and a devastating betrayal leaves Carvalho fighting for his life.

Manuel Vazquez Montalban was born in Barcelona in 1939. He was a journalist, novelist, and creator of Pepe Carvalho, a fast-living, gourmet private detective. He died in October 2003.

Off Side (Five Star)
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Off Side (Five Star)
Manuel Vazquez Montalban
Manufacturer: Serpent's Tail
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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Montalban, Manuel Vazquez | ( M ) | Authors, A-Z | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1852427426

Book Description

Montalban writes with authority and compassion -a Le Carre-like sorrow.-Publishers Weekly "Montalban is a writer who is caustic about the powerful and tender towards the oppressed"-TLS Off Side is the 5th novel in the hugely successful Pepe Carvalho series. To revive its sagging fortunes, Barcelona soccer club has bought the services of Jack Mortimer, European Soccer Player of the Year. No sooner has Mortimer taken possession of his company Porsche than death threats start arriving. Are they a hoax, the work of a loner or are they connected to the awesome real estate speculation that is tearing Barcelona apart? Manuel Vazquez Montalban lives in Barcelona where he was born in 1939. Journalist, writer, and chef (the Pepe Carvalho cookbook is a Spanish best-seller), Montalban is best known for his dectective novels. He is the winner of the Raymond Chandler Prize for Dectective Fiction and many other major awards.

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Yo Mati a Kennedy
Manuel Vazquez Montalban
Manufacturer: Planeta
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Tatuaje

ASIN: 8408050303

The Angst-Ridden Executive (Five Star Title)

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Review of the Angst-Ridden Executive
VIVA PEPE CARVALHO!

The Angst-Ridden Executive (Five Star Title)
Manuel Vazquez Montalban , Manuel Vazquez Montalban , and Ed Emery
Manufacturer: Serpent's Tail
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Man of My Life

ASIN: 185242740X

Book Description

Antonio Jauma, an old acquaintance, desperately wants to get in touch with Pepe Carvalho, but dies before he manages to do so. Jauma's widow has good reason to believe that her husband's death is not what it seems. And who better to investigate than Pepe Carvalho, a private eye with a CIA past and contacts with the Communist Party?

Manuel Vazquez Montalban lives in Barcelona, Spain where he was born in 1939. He is a journalist, novelist and creator of Pepe Carvalho, a fast-living, gourmet private dectective. who also stars in Murder in the Central Committee, An Olympic Death, Offside and Southern Seas.

Customer Reviews:

Review of the Angst-Ridden Executive.......2006-03-12

I discovered M. V. Montalban with this book (thanks to suggestions from Amazon.com based on recent purchases). I found the protagonist delightful and humourous as a private detective. The book is an intelligent read - a mixture of literature, languages, recipes, and a surpise ending; character development well-done. I have purchased and read almost all of Montalban's books after reading this one.

VIVA PEPE CARVALHO!.......2000-02-08

Once again Montalban builds a powerful story around the original figure of Pepe Carvalho, the gourmet, wine loving, eccentric and philosophizing private-eye from Barcelona, Spain. Montalban achieves, once again, a perfect blend of action, unforgettable characters, mystery, politics, sex and cuisine. There isn't anything quite like this in detective literature. A spy-story written by an intellectual for us to enjoy without the guilt. Montalban is a true poet!

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Galindez
Manuel Vazquez Montalban
Manufacturer: Planeta Pub Corp
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Spanish | Foreign Language Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Autobiografia Del General Franco (Coleccion Autores espanoles e hispanoamericanos)

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Autobiografia Del General Franco (Coleccion Autores espanoles e hispanoamericanos)
Manuel Vazquez Montalban
Manufacturer: Planeta Pub Corp
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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