Crushed by a devastating scandal, university professor Oscar Amalfitano flees Barcelona for Santa Teresa - a Mexican city close to the US border. In this sprawling town, where women are being killed in staggering numbers, Amalfitano begins an affair with Castillo, a young forger of Larry Rivers paintings, while his daughter, Rosa, reeling from the weight of his secrets, seeks solace in a romance of her own. Featuring characters and stories from The Savage Detectives and 2666, Roberto Bolano's Woes of the True Policeman explores the power of art, memory, and desire - and marks the culmination of one of the great careers of world literature.