Biography
Domingo Villar, whose work has been translated into multiple languages, is one of Galicia’s most international writers. He published a series of crime novels featuring dyed-in-the-wool Galician detective Inspector Leo Caldas and his Aragonese sidekick, Rafael Estévez, who has difficulty understanding the Galician sense of irony. The first novel in this series is Water-Blue Eyes (2006), about the death of a saxophonist. This is followed by Death on a Galician Shore (2009), about the death of a sailor and a village’s unwillingness to open up to outsiders. This novel was voted book of the year by the Galician Booksellers’ Federation and was shortlisted for the Crime Writers’ Association’s International Dagger Award. The third novel in the series is The Last Boat (2019), about the disappearance of a doctor’s daughter. Domingo Villar’s death in 2022 was much lamented by the Galician writing community.
Synopsis
Domingo Villar is famous in Galicia for his series of crime novels featuring the dyed-in-the-wool Galician detective Leo Caldas and his Aragonese sidekick Rafael Estévez. He published three novels in total: Water-Blue Eyes (2006), Death on a Galician Shore (2009) and The Last Boat (2019). The first two have appeared in English.
Sample
The line of lights on the coast, the glimmer of the city, the white spray where the waves broke … It made no difference that it was dark and the rain was lashing against the windows. Whoever was visiting his flat for the first time invariably mentioned the view, as if compelled.
Luis Reigosa picked a CD from the shelf, put it on the hi-fi and poured the drinks into wide glasses, the rims of which he’d previously rubbed with lemon peel. He couldn’t know they’d be the last he’d ever pour.
Portico of Galician Literature 