Noir fiction continues to enjoy good health in Barcelona, judging by the new release tables in bookstores. A few days ago, Policies burst onto the scene, a novel written by four hands, the work of former Mossos commissioner Joan Miquel Capell and veteran author and master of the genre Andreu Martín. Next week they will make their official presentation.
For some, they are an odd couple, but if you think about it, their collaboration is the result of a logical evolution of a writer passionate about crime literature and a police officer passionate about literature. It can be said that whoever or whatever raised them, crime brought them together.
And it is that, although Policies is the first novel they have co-authored, they have been working together for some time. Capell is Martín's go-to police officer, as Martín has been seeking advice from security professionals for years. But it is in Capell that he has found the perfect alter ego. And the former commissioner has found in Martín the master who has guided him in his career as a writer. In fact, Martín assisted Capell in the latter's first novel, Wad-Ras. One only has to share a meal with both to confirm that they are totally synchronized and satisfied because their collaboration is proving to be more than fruitful for both parties.
A stimulating encounter that a writer and a police officer, both with long professional careers, unite their knowledge and that their collaboration, although already intense, now comes out of the closet with this novel, which promises not to be the first. They confess that they are already preparing a second work also signed by both.
One wonders how a police officer like Capell decides to take the step into literature. He himself explains it by arguing that, deep down, a police investigation ends up being embodied in a set of reports that form a narrative that is served to the judge so that he can determine his conclusions and sentence. He is not the first agent converted into a writer.
However, except in television and cinema, there are no known cases of writers who end up solving real crimes. The question for Capell is unavoidable: would Andreu Martín's extensive career qualify him to lead an investigation? The ex-commissioner's "yes" is emphatic, because to investigate a crime, he says, it is very important to use common sense and find what is always out of place and leads to the resolution. Martín is much more cautious and clarifies that he always solves his literary crimes because he has all the time in the world to do so. In contrast, the police do not enjoy this advantage.
It was a veteran crime journalist, Carlos Quílez, who introduced them, but both acknowledge the great work of the late Paco Camarasa in bringing writers and police forces together. Camarasa played a very relevant role in the popularity of crime fiction. For years, he ran the now legendary Negra y Criminal bookstore in Barceloneta and was the father of BCNegra, today an internationally recognized festival of the genre. Camarasa is largely responsible for the consolidation of Barcelona crime fiction, after that first boom of the late 70s and early 80s led by Pepe Carvalho, by Vázquez Montalbán. Andreu Martín was part of that phenomenon since he published his first novel, Aprende y calla, in 1979, which managed to attract the attention of even the beloved Juan Marsé.
Martín began in the 60s writing comic scripts for Bruguera and has a prolific body of work. Although the bulk of his production belongs to the crime genre, he has also cultivated his facet as a film and television screenwriter and even in children's and young adult literature, where the Flanagan series stands out, co-written with Jaume Ribera. One of his best-known novels, Barcelona connection, was first the script for the film of the same name directed by Miguel Iglesias and starring Sergi Mateu and Maribel Verdú. Given the success of the film, Martín decided to also give it novel format.
There is nothing left but to welcome the premiere of the Martín-Capell duo, which will undoubtedly contribute to consolidating Barcelona's role in the crime genre. Policies promises and we already expect more.