José Cardoso Pires s O Compasso do Poder na Balada da Praia dos Cães aims at evidencing segments of the connections between Power and Literature. In a first plan, the question of Power is analysed having as shortcuts the actions and the established power relations among the main characters of the novel as well as the historical scene on which the narrative is based: Portugal s New State in the sixties. This dissertation demonstrates that there are several sources and different motivations that drive on power practices and also how those power relations, characterized by State power versus counterpowers, become sharper and sharper during a political government system based on exception. In a second plan, this work discusses the Detective Story Genre, chosen by José Cardoso Pires, and the usage of various narrative resources as tools to criticize and to combat authoritarianism, concluding that those strategies will constitute a power exercise which emblemed the author s civic commitment, not only to Portuguese society but also to all mankind.