Let us return one last time to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, with Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s eagerly anticipated conclusion to his four-part series, The Labyrinth of the Spirits (Harper, $37.50). Operating within the same world as The Shadow of the Wind, this novel follows special investigator Alicia Gris, a young, beautiful, and deadly woman, orphaned by the Spanish Civil War, as she unravels one last case of a missing government minister. With the help of her gruff, unlovable partner, Vargas, and familiar Barcelona booksellers Daniel Sempere and Fermin Romero de Torres, Alicia unravels the complicated and intricate web of deception that has kept the repressive Franco regime in power for decades. This combines all the gothic, action-packed mystery that Zafón’s bibliophile fans have come to expect, along with a thrilling finale, putting the whole four-book series in brilliant perspective.
