See all titles by Michael Atkinson.

Set in civil war–torn Spain in 1937, Atkinson’s solid sequel to 2009’s Hemingway Deadlights finds the celebrated author feeling like “a fraud, a three-dollar bill, a charlatan everyone treated like a messiah.”

Unlike Hemingway Deadlights, this is much more of a hard-core espionage story, while also retaining the first book's humor (the opening scene is priceless). Taking up residence with a horde of squirreled-away food and booze in Madrid's Hotel Florida to write dispatches to the states, Hemingway learns of the death of José Robles. With the occasional help of fellow writer John Dos Passos, Hemingway looks into the execution of José Robles, a medical volunteer and accused Marxist spy, with whom he was acquainted years earlier in Italy, after Robles’s body lies in the hills outside Valencia for more than three weeks before it’s discovered.

War is war and people die, but when it is leaked that the killing was something more nefarious, Hemingway decides to unearth the truth. Of course, the killer doesn't want them snooping, and Dos and a young translator aiding the investigation are scared off, but Ernesto is too bullheaded—or stupid—to quit.

Atkinson again does a superb job capturing the younger Hemingway's persona—he's rich, famous, lusty (threesomes with hotel whores), drunk (only half the time), smart, determined, and not taking any crap! Hemingway lived one of the 20th century's most remarkable and adventurous lives, but Atkinson's version is even better! Another series winner.