A Not So Perfect Crime

Solana’s sparkling debut pokes sharp fun at Catalan politics, society and pretensions. Despite different names and personalities, Eduard Martínez and Borja Masdéu are not only twins but partners in Frau Consultants, an extralegal outfit that provides discreet services to Barcelona’s well-to-do. Lluís Font, a powerful MP with presidential ambitions, hires the brothers to determine if his wife, Lídia, is having an affair with the painter of her portrait. That assignment is right up their alley, but when Lídia is poisoned via a gift box of marrons glacés, the brothers are out of their depth. Borja, who’s remade himself as a member of the upper class, is a confident and amusing operator, while brother Eduard is a family man with scruples and misgivings. From their false front of an office and the secretary who exists only as a lingering scent and a bottle of nail varnish, the brothers bumble and stumble to the truth and hopefully to further adventures. (Mar.)