The title of the English translation of the latest Barcelona murder mystery by Teresa Solana has nothing to do with the Catalan original (L’Hora Zen – Zen Time) – but all credit to the translator for coming up with it. An ironic twist on Zen Master Hakuin Ekaku’s quote – ‘You know the sound of two hands clapping; tell me, what is the sound of one hand?’ – the title perfectly embodies the satirical tone of the novel.
Brothers Borja and Eduard are a couple of hapless detectives who find themselves embroiled in not one but three crimes, including the murder of the director of a meditation centre, who is killed by a blow to the head with a Buddha statuette. Solana appears as herself in the novel, and it is she who hires the men to expose the pretensions of New Age quacks. The detectives bumble their way through the subsequent mire, and are all the more likeable for their slightly naughty, flawed personalities and ineptitude.
