Broken Arrow

Broken Arrow is Malcolm Pritchard’s third crime thriller and the second to feature Danny Sanchez, a reporter for the newspaper serving the ex-pat community in Spain’s Andalusia. Danny is a likable character with an eye for a story and indefatigable in his pursuit of it, regardless of his own interests. The woman in his life is the equally likable ex-pat, Marsha.  

However, there’s nothing likable about the opposition he meets in the narrative. This includes the ex-con Gabriel Valera, who on his release heads for the Tabernas desert to dig up the body of the man he killed seven years previously, and from there, the plot hurtles onward to who is next on his list.

The body is found bound to a wagon wheel in the Indian village of the Little Arizona Western Theme Park, a fake venue in the desert for filming Spaghetti Westerns.  Danny attends the press conference there, and his curiosity is aroused by the self-styled Sheriff, Sixto Escobar whose composure is shaken when he sees the passport photo of the dead man. Valera had ensured that the dead man would be identified. From then on, Danny is drawn into a cover-up story so murky that it goes far beyond a story of personal vengeance into a horrifying corporate cover-up that has been responsible for manydeaths and threatens thousands more.

Danny’s investigation not only grips with every page, but doesn’t let go until the end – and perhaps, not even then. Malcolm Pritchard’s writing, both of narrative and conversation, is immediate, clear and always hits the mark; his characters come alive; and his pace is therefore first class. What more could one ask for? Answer: the next in the series, please.is ch