Neutral City

Barcelona, 1918. The city, which supplies the warring sides of the distant European conflict, is being ravaged by a deadly flu epidemic. One morning, the director of the infectious diseases ward at the Hospital de la Santa Cruz is found dead—everything suggests suicide… were it not for the eerie mask covering the corpse’s face. The air here is suffocating, and everyone hides more than just their features.

In 1918, the violence of the Great War seems distant from a neutral Barcelona suffering under the grip of a lethal flu outbreak. Yet the conflict divides society between those who profit from it and those who endure the shortages caused by foreign demand. The city, a stage for cabaret singers and a haven for morphine addicts, is now also a refuge for spies and a paradise for the greedy.

One morning, the director of the infectious diseases ward at the Hospital de la Santa Cruz is found dead in his office. Commissioner Pavía and Inspector Hernández respond to the call. All signs point to suicide… except for the sinister mask on the victim’s face.

Following City of Ashes, Kike Corella takes Hernández and Pavía through a shadowy investigation involving medical intrigue, diplomatic interests, disguises, and decay in the Catalan capital—set against the gripping backdrop of the so-called “Spanish flu.” Revenge? Money? Espionage? Jealousy? Follow them into squalid neighborhoods, corrupt police stations, seductive cabarets, absinthe-scented taverns, boxing rings, strike-ridden factories, and bloodstained streets. A world riddled with lies stands in their way. Everyone hides something, everyone lies—even them.