In this sequel to The Condor's Riddle (2024), Brazilian-American novelist Marcelo Antinori returns to the eccentric and charming world of Santa Clara by the Sea. The motley collection of local characters and expatriate refugees who give that Caribbean city its magic flavor must tackle a fresh mystery. Who was the man who lived in the abandoned apartment? By accident, Bebéi, the seemingly naïve but deceptively shrewd archivist in the French embassy, tumbles to his disappearance-which, rather embarrassingly, has gone undetected and unexplained for ten years. The only clues left behind are some notes hidden in twenty-six books on a shelf, and what began as a simple curiosity slowly mushrooms into a shadowy mystery that pulls in deadly games of the Cold War. Each note unveils a new clue, and when Bebéi starts asking questions, everyone gets involved; the city's fate is at stake, and only those notes can save it from the corrupt mayor and his friends.