The confessional

The extraordinary, demonic monument to Franco broods over the Valley of the Fallen, north of Madrid. Here, in the hallowed seclusion of the confessional box, Eduardo Tomas, Spain's Home Affairs Minister, is gunned down by a manipulative killer. Senior Interpol officer, Marius Larche, heads the investigating team; his number two, Detective Superintendent Alison Rowe, seconded from Scotland Yard because of her special knowledge of one particular political assassin, suspected of the murder. On the beautiful fortress-like island of Molino, they investigate the web of secrecy and suspicion which surrounds the Minister's widow and the whole Tomas family. As Larche and Rowe assemble their suspects in the lavish retreat overlooking the Mediterranean, a ruthless killer penetrates the rigid security ... Political and religious intrigue, the hedonism of the rich and the brutality of desperate people make an irresistible melange in Confessional , first published in 1993, a successor to Anthony Masters' first Marius Larche investigation, Murder is a Long Time Coming . "Marian is in her mid-thirties, and trying to get over the shock of her eighteen-year-old twins leaving her to live with their father in the USA. As a distraction she takes a job looking after a younger woman, Stella, on a coach tour to Greece. It seems to be the answer to all her worries - financial and otherwise - although there is some mystery surrounding Stella's background. As the tour gets underway, strange things begin happen, including some serious accidents. People become suspicious, and nobody is at all sure whom they can trust. Marion becomes increasingly worried, both for her own sake and for Stella's, and at the same time tries to resist her increasing attraction to a friendly classics professor who is also on the tour."--Amazon.com