Vogelstein is a loner who has always lived among books. Suddenly, fate grabs hold of his insignificant life and carries him off to Buenos Aires, to a conference on Edgar Allan Poe, the inventor of the modern detective story. There Vogelstein meets his idol, Jorge Luis Borges, and for reasons that a mere passion for literature cannot explain, he finds himself at the centre of a murder investigation that involves arcane demons, the mysteries of the Kabbala, the possible destruction of the world, and the Elizabethan magus John Dee's 'Eternal Orang-utan', which would end up by writing all the known books in the cosmos.

Luis Fernando Verissimo is one of Brazil's most popular writers thanks to his satirical columns in the national weeklyVeja. He is also a celebrated novelist and cartoonist, and he plays the saxophone in a jazz band. His novelThe Club of Angelswas published by Harvill.

A hilarious spoof on literary/academic conferences, and a brilliant 'Borgesian' mystery.