THE SEVILLE COMMUNION

N.Y.: Harcourt, 1998. 1st edition, so stated, with complete letter line beginning with A. Page edges lightly soiled else about fine in dust jacket, not price clipped, with protective mylar cover. Translated by Sonia Soto. "Mysterious, deadly conflicts between history and modernity drive Spanish author Perez-Reverte's latest literate thriller (after The Club Dumas, 1997), an engaging tale of love, greed, faith, betrayal and murder set in contemporary Seville. When a computer hacker penetrates Vatican security to send an urgent, anonymous plea to the pope, Father Lorenzo Quart of the church's Institute of External Affairs--a sort of Vatican CIA--is dispatched to investigate. The hacker's message concerns a troubled 17th-century church in Seville, Our Lady of the Tears. Apparently, the dilapidated church "kills to defend itself." It stands in the way of a huge real estate deal, and two people have died there-- in apparent accidents--as they brought pressure to condemn it. A handsome dandy who wears expensive black suits instead of a cassock and knows how to conduct himself in a fistfight, Quart prides himself on his discipline but soon finds it heavily taxed as he's embroiled with a bellicose, elderly parish priest, a blue-jeaned American nun and a stunning Andalusian duchess intent on saving the church from the businessmen (including her husband) who threaten it..." -- Publishers Weekly. First Edition. Hard Cover. Near Fine/Near Fine. Book.