A small church in Seville has allegedly begun “killing” those who attempt to close it.

So, the Vatican dispatches a discreet fixer—Father Lorenzo Quart—to investigate the situation quietly before scandal spreads.

Pérez-Reverte moves through Seville’s fading aristocracy, opportunistic developers, and clerical bureaucracy, building a story where religion, architecture, money, and history all pull in different directions. The threatened church is a threshold, where modernisation collides with the stubborn persistence of old institutions.

Typical of Pérez-Reverte’s work, the novel blends thriller mechanics with a deep sense of place. Seville’s streets, churches, and fading social hierarchies form the real subject of the book.