The Spanish Daughter begins in the spring of 1920 with Puri and her husband, Cristobal, travelling from Spain to Ecuador. Puri has inherited a cocoa estate in Ecuador. Unfortunately, Cristobal was murdered on the ship. Puri decides to continue on to Ecuador but she assumes her husband’s identity.

Puri believes that someone wanted to murder her so that they could have her share of the inheritance. She feels safer by dressing as a male until she can figure out who wanted to kill her. Could it be one of her siblings? One of her in-laws? There are several times when Puri doesn’t know if she can keep up with the masquerade. Will someone find out that she is Puri before she is ready? She doesn’t her secret to be revealed before she feels safe. The whole time that she is disguised, Puri is trying to solve the mystery.

Puri and her mother were left behind in Spain by her father. He began a new life with a new family in Ecuador. Puri had opened a chocolate shop in Spain. However WWI, had a major negative impact on the Spanish economy. Basically, everyone was poor and hungry. No one had money to buy chocolate so Puri closed the shop. Puri thought that she and her husband could start a new life in Ecuador by claiming her inheritance. She was hopeful about running a cocoa estate.

For a large part of the book, I was suspicious of Martin, the lawyer. Was he a decent person or was it an act? Honestly, he didn’t seem completely decent. Of course women love him. Who should play Martin or Puri in a movie?

This book was so well-written that I hated for it to end. There was enough drama and mystery to keep me interested even when I wasn’t reading. If you love historical fiction or mysteries, then you will love The Spanish Daughter. If you are greedy then you might not like this book – unless you are greedy about having all of the good books.