A sweet smell of death - Guillermo Arriaga Jordn

The killing of a young girl in a small Mexican village ignites a powder-trail of gossip that erupts in further violence, in this suspenseful tale from the writer of the acclaimed movie Amores Perros.Early one morning in a deserted field, Ramon Castanos is confronted with the dead body of Adela, a lovely young girl whom he had only admired from afar. But his concern for her fate is so evident that within an hour of the bloody discovery, rumour of the death of Ramon Castanos' girlfriend has spread to every corner of Loma Grande. The villagers, thirsty for revenge, cast about for a suspect or scapegoat, and hit upon the nomadic Jose Echeverri-Berriozabal, known as 'The Gypsy'. Honour then demands that Ramon prove his manhood and avenge the unhappy Adela; Ramon realises that he must now live out his imaginary past as a brutal reality. Here as in Amores Perros, Guillermo Arriaga spins a tale of deception, passion, and violence, expertly interweaving story-lines and characters, and fusing tragedy with dark humour. The result is a compulsive work from one of the finest writers to emerge from Mexico in recent years.