El día 23 de julio de 1870, el Diario de Noticias de Lisboa insertaba una nota de última hora que decía así: «A punto de cerrar nuestra edición, hemos recibido un escrito singular. Se trata de una carta sin firma enviada por correo a nuestra redacción. En ella se inicia una narración estupenda acerca de un horrible y misterioso suceso. El interés que despierta y su calidad literaria nos determinan a transcribir íntegro tan interesante documento, cosa que haremos mañana domingo». Y efectivamente, al día siguiente, 24 de julio, el pueblo de Lisboa, que se disponía alegremente a presenciar un desfile conmemorando la entrada del Ejército liberal, vio sobresaltada su habitual modorra con la lectura de aquella primera noticia aportada por un incógnito doctor X, al parecer testigo, y en parte protagonista, del sensacional misterio que ya desde aquel mismo día se empezó a conocer como El misterio de la carretera de Sintra.

Soy un enamorado de las novelas de Eça de Queiroz y, aunque no me ha defraudado, en ocasiones se me ha hecho un tanto farragosa. ¿Quizás por estar escrita a cuatro manos con Ramalho Ortigão? ¿Tal vez porque se publicó por entregas en un periódico y eso complica su lectura continuada?

Aunque me ha gustado, prefiero otros títulos de Eça como "Los Maia", "El primo Basilio" o "La tragedia en la calle de las flores". Lo mejor, el personaje femenino protagonista, del que han bebido muchos de los que aparecieron después en otras de sus novelas. ( )

Tem lá os seus momentos (“Já não me escrevia como dantes em papel de acaso, em folhas de carteira, em pedaços de cartas velhas, que denotavam as inspirações do amor, os sobressaltos repentinos da paixão; escrevia-me em papel Marquet, perfumado!”). Mas é só um embrião mal-formado do que viria a ser a obra de Eça de Queirós na sua maturidade. Dispensável. ( )

Dedicatória Lena, Toni, Ginette e René

"Dr ***" and his friend "F" are abducted from the Sintra Road by four masked men, brought to a mysterious house to ascertain that an opium overdose is actually dead. While at said house, another man - "A.M.C." - bursts in on the group, and as a result, the mystery of the dead body is slowly unraveled, revealing a tale of love, passion, deceit, and murder. This is considered the first detective story published in Portugal and was written in 1870 by friends José Maria Eça de Queiroz and Ramalho Ortigão to shake up Lisbon and show that literary styles were changing. Published in installments in a Lisbon newspaper as a series of letters to the editor, many Lisboetas thought the story of the murder was true and it caused some commotion in the capital city. The last installment, however, included a note announcing that the story was fiction, signed by its two authors, who both went on to become huge influences on Portuguese literature's progression from Romanticism to Realism. The remarkable thing is, though, that not only was this a progressive experiment, it is a genuinely exciting story that holds up surprisingly well, even by today's standards. It does include some passages of excessive Romanticism that sound bloated to contemporary ears, but that's easily made up by the authors' genuine talent for telling a captivating story with characters that are allowed to be flawed and pathetic without being pitiable. I'll gladly admit to being a huge fan of Eça de Queiroz's already and this, his first novel, only added to my admiration of his skill. ( )