Revenge/Revancha

Nestled between the verdant foothills of the coastal mountains and the azure waters of the Santa Barbara Harbor, Montecito, California, in 1951, is an enchanting village with magnificent mansions hidden behind locked gates, tall shrubs and high walls.The century-old Catholic Church with a missionary façade and arched bell tower serves as a notable landmark.  The nearby cemetery situated on undulating green acres with solemn mausoleums and headstones overlooks the Pacific Ocean, and the grand hotels and inns built between the First and Second World Wars serve as backdrops for the principal characters.Within the adobe walls of an old Spanish-Mexican style mansion, its mistress, Se¿ora Juanita Castillo Montenegro, a middle-aged society reina, sits at her mirrored vanity dresser brushing her hair. Upon seeing an image behind her, she calls out, Is that you? A shot rings out, the se¿ora falls forward-dead.Father Julio Allende who arrives from Spain to prepare the se¿ora's soul for ascension in the family mausoleum is found brutally murdered in a ritualistic-type desecration.When two detectives from Spain come to investigate the murder of the priest, their car plunges off a cliff killing both. An investigation of the wreckage reveals tampering of the steering mechanism and perforation of the brake lines.Fred Amado, the handsome, self-assured chief homicide detective of the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Department, is assigned to the murders. During his investigation, he uncovers within the mansion's underbelly a collection of famous paintings and valuable artifacts. Their ownership remains a mystery.   Amado's objectivity is compromised when he falls in love with the beautiful Isabella Chavez, the murdered se¿ora's ward and confidante who becomes a prime suspect.  Himself a target of the assassin's bullet, Amado doggedly pursues clues and confronts clever suspects: the estate's attorney, Cornelius Spingarn; John Gruenwald, the chauffeur; Maria Guerrero, the housekeeper; Moses Periera, the art dealer and owner of the Iberia America Trading Co.                                                      ***Revenge/Revancha, is a spell-binding tale. It involves an assortment of odd characters: a sex-starved former mistress of Spain's General Franco, a priest with false credentials who is found grotesquely butchered, and an unscrupulous art dealer with a collection of world-famous paintings.