The City and the City

Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Extreme Crime Squad (ECS) investigates the murder of a young woman whose body was discovered in an abandoned industrial park. He interrogates the four teenage “chewers” (drug users) who found the body and orders them taken in for further questioning. Shukman, the forensic pathologist, arrives and deduces that the victim was killed elsewhere, the body dumped in the park after. He finds a deep laceration across her face and jaw and wounds on her chest. Borlú and his unit speculate that the woman was a sex worker killed by a “cocky, stupid sadist” (9). The local constable, Lizbyet Corwi, however, notices small details that suggest the woman may not have been a sex worker. Realizing she can offer a valuable perspective, Borlú assigns her to the case. As he departs the crime scene, he is besieged by the press, but he defers all questions until later. He then notices an old woman in the distance, and with a start, he realizes that she is on a different street altogether and that “[he] should not have seen her” (14).