La Venus de los Cuernos de Luna

"La Venus de los Cuernos de Luna" by Ralph Barby This Spanish pulp horror/mystery novel (Selección Terror no. 430, 1981) follows painter Alex Shartte after a mysterious roadside encounter. Driving through a rainstorm, he picks up a naked, beautiful blonde woman who vanishes inexplicably when he retrieves a blanket from his trunk. Struck by an oncoming vehicle, Shartte awakens in a rehabilitation clinic, uncertain whether the woman was real or a trauma-induced hallucination, as a psychiatrist suggests. Upon discharge, Shartte returns to his apartment to discover his girlfriend Brigitte dead in his bed, having suffered a cerebral hemorrhage days earlier while confined there, her body now decomposed. Police commissioner Dumoite rules it accidental death. Haunted by these events, Shartte—a professor of drawing—glimpses what appears to be the same blonde woman on a city street during twilight, reigniting his obsession. The narrative combines elements of psychological mystery with supernatural ambiguity, leaving the nature of his initial encounter deliberately unresolved.