Ollos de auga

"Ollos de auga" (2006) is the Galician-language debut novel of Domingo Villar, published by Editorial Galaxia and later translated into Spanish by Ediciones Siruela as "Ojos de agua." It introduces Inspector Leo Caldas, a solitary, jazz-loving policeman in the Galician port city of Vigo, and inaugurated a series that went on to international acclaim.

The case opens with the body of a young saxophonist discovered in a coastal tower on Toralla Island, killed with unusual cruelty in an otherwise meticulously clean apartment. Caldas, who splits his time between the police station and a call-in radio advice show, is paired with Rafael Estévez, an impulsive Aragonese officer who feels permanently out of place among the Galicians. Together they move between Vigo's jazz bars and taverns and its wealthier, more guarded circles, uncovering the hidden second life that lies behind the killing.

Critics have placed the novel alongside the European noir of Andrea Camilleri and Henning Mankell, praising its mix of suspense, dry humor, and melancholy, along with its vivid sense of place and its love of music and wine. "A praia dos afogados" (2009), the second Leo Caldas novel, went on to cement Villar's international reputation.