A Spanish debut… my first novel

Holy Week in Spain… and a murderer is loose. Academic Maria Gutierrez can see something in his ways that the police are missing. But her insight does nothing to help her popularity in the force-and draws her to the attention of the killer.

The Angel Brothers, two controversial modern artists, are found dead in a southern Spanish city, in a killing that emulates a famous painting. Visiting academic Maria Gutierrez was supposed to be an observer to the police investigation. But her own past in the city soon puts her one step ahead of the cops… and in the killer’s sights.

Translated into many languages, and a continuing summer hit in Germany, Semana Santa marked my world debut as a novelist with a dark and powerful tale set in a region of Europe most English language writers ignored at the time.

In 2000 Semana Santa was filmed, mainly on location in Seville, starring Mira Sorvino, below. The movie, in which David had no involvement, went straight to DVD in most territories. It is still available under the title The Angel of Death in the US, and as Semana Santa in Europe.

Authors know nothing about movies

No. I mean that. Really. They made a movie of my first book, Semana Santa. I never knew it had been released until I was wandering down the Via Nazionale in Rome one day and saw my name on a movie poster across the street. Maybe that coloured my view of the thing, which has [...]