Matthew Carr chats to Paul Burke about his latest historical crime thriller THE EMPEROR OF SEVILLE, Bernardo de Mendoza, sixteenth century Spain, Terrorism, financial thrillers and white ruff crime.

The Emperor of Seville: Summer 1586.
When the Genoese banker Sandro Grandoni is murdered at a trade fair in the Castilian town of Medina del Campo, the Valladolid Chancery appoints the magistrate Bernardo de Mendoza to conduct the investigation.
The murder takes place at a delicate political moment. King Philip II is preparing to invade England, and the Crown is negotiating a new loan with the House of Grandoni to help finance the invasion. While the king and his ministers await the arrival of the imperial treasure fleet in Seville, one of Grandoni’s partners is murdered on the banks of the Guadalquivir.
Anxious to eliminate any obstacles to the ‘enterprise of England’, Philip sends Mendoza to Seville to see if the murders are connected.
Accompanied by his restless ward Gabriel, and a charismatic poet named Miguel de Cervantes, Mendoza travels to the violent, vice-ridden imperial city that sixteenth century Spaniards called ‘the Great Babylon.’
Mendoza soon finds himself entangled a bewildering web of intrigue and corruption, that extends from the Indies to the Seville streets. In an unfamiliar city where no one can be trusted, Mendoza is forced to seek the assistance of his turbulent cousin, Luis de Ventura.
Mendoza’s task is further complicated, when his lover Elena unexpectedly arrives in the city with an Italian theatre group.
Throughout the sweltering Andalusian summer, Mendoza follows the trail of deaths, as the search for justice becomes a struggle for survival, in which no one’s life is guaranteed.

Matthew Carr: is a journalist and writer of Non-fiction and Fiction. His latest novel is The Emperor of Seville, he is working on the next in the Bernardo de Mendoza series. 

Matthew Carr titles - Blood and Faith, The Infernal Machine, Black Sun Rising, The Devils of Cardona.

Recommended/mentioned: Paco Taibo III, Leonardo Sciascia, Dashiell Hammett, Miguel de Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Caroline Moorehead - A Sicilian Man, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Luis Bunuel Land Without Bread

Paul Burke is the editor of Aspects of Crime and of Crime Time FM, he is a CWA Gold Dagger judge. His first book Spies on Screen: From Silent to Streaming will be published in September '26.

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