Alicia Giminez-Bartlett won the Feminino Lumen prize as best female writer in Spain, and this first book in her ongoing series about Barcelona police detective Petra Delicado and her partner Fermin Garzon shows why. Inspector Delicado is tough, funny and sexy; Sgt. Garzon is softer and more sentimental, but as stalwart as a large tree when things get rough. When a man beaten to death turns out to have made his living doing something nasty with other people’s dogs, it starts out as just another case. But as the danger and duplicity increase, both cops begin to take it personally – even getting romantically involved with people they encounter.