The year is 1923. On a hot summer night, four corpses wash up at the port of Barcelona. When Journalist Pere Marsé investigates these murders he is shocked to discover that one of the victims is in fact a German policeman. As he digs even deeper, Marsé soon realizes this is only the tip of what turns out to be an intricate plot of both criminal and political intrigue. As each layer of the onion is peeled away, more questions than answers come to the surface. Anarchists, local police, German nationals, French Secret Service and Military leaders all play their parts. This fascinating book -- based on real circumstances and characters -- recounts events that happened in Barcelona in the early 1920s. These events were a direct reason why Hitler failed with his attempted coup in Munich on November 8, 1923.