A Small Death in Lisbon

1941. Klaus Felsen, forced out of his Berlin factory into the SS, arrives in a luminous Lisbon, where Nazis and Allies, refugees and entrepreneurs, dance to the strains of opportunism and despair. Felsen's assignment takes him to the bleak mountains of the north where a devious and brutal battle is being fought for an element vital to Hitler's bliztkrieg. There he meets the man who plants the first seed of greed and revenge that will grow into a thick vine in the landscape of post-war Portugal. Late 1990s. Investigating the murder of a young girl with a disturbing sexual past, Inspector Ze Coelho overturns the dark soil of history and unearths old bones from Portugal's fascist past. This small death in Lisbon is horrific compensation for an even older crime, and Coelho's stubborn pursuit of its truth reveals a tragedy that unites past and present. Robert Wilson's combination of intelligence, suspense, vivid characters, and mesmerizing storytelling richly deserves the international acclaim his novel has received.

"A Small Death in Lisbon is a well-crafted gem, a guided tour of the human condition in the guise of a mystery novel. Wilson is flat terrific." Stephen Coonts

"An engrossing tale of how the sins of the past come to corrupt the future. A deft handling of converging timescales and an exploration of fundamental human relationships." Gold Dagger Citation

"Wilson's masterly work shows us the devastating – and ineradicable – effects of war on the human soul and the national psyche." Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review

"Seductive...compelling."—Los Angeles Times

"A taut international thriller." —Time

"Fascinating...wonderfully rich." —Chicago Tribune

A sex slaying in modern-day Lisbon. A secret in 1941 Berlin. The shocking connection makes this the most talked-about thriller in years.

Robert Wilson was born in 1957. A graduate of Oxford University, he has worked in shipping, advertising, and trading in Africa. He has traveled in Asia and Africa and has lived in Greece and West Africa. He is married and writes from an isolated farmhouse in Portugal.