Mossos d'esquadra who write crime novels

“When you're a Mosso d'Esquadra (Catalan police officer), there are always some cases that stick with you,” says Joan Miquel Capell, who was a Mosso for three decades, speaking of the case that led to the novel Tot anava bé fins ara (Tot anava bé fins ara, Crims.cat), written jointly with the tireless Andreu Martín . They had already teamed up with him on Policies (Crims.cat, 2021), although Capell confesses that Martín had already helped him a lot on his debut, while the writer points out: “He's my go-to police officer.”

His new novel begins with the suicide of a Mosso d'Esquadra (Catalan police officer): "Every year, police officers commit suicide, and years ago, no one wanted to know anything about it; they hid, and it was unfair to someone who had dedicated themselves to serving society. Now, fortunately, it's seen differently, and there's psychological care." The two share the work: one provides the procedure and a good part of the facts, and the other handles the plot and the fictional layer, although, as Capell recalls, "in a way, when you put reality into words, you're already creating fiction."

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He became interested in writing primarily as a result of the Mossos d'Esquadra Reading Club, which Paco Camarasa launched, but he also recalls that "police work is very much about writing; you write a lot of reports, and it requires consistency." In fact, he admits that in books, he's very drawn to "the procedural aspect, although this is where Andreu has to stop me."

Marc Pastor, Xavier Álvarez Llaberia, Rafa Melero and Xus González have a parallel life as writers.

Capell began publishing after leaving the police force – he has been responsible for security at the Barcelona Provincial Council for years – but other active Mossos d'Esquadra officers, such as Marc Pastor, Rafa Melero, Xavier Álvarez Llaberia and Xus González, have a parallel life as writers, especially of crime novels.

Of all of them, Marc Pastor, who with eight books is also the most veteran writer – the last one, Riu de safirs (Edicions 62), he defined a year ago as an “Arthurian western” –, seems the furthest from the crime novel, since all his books have a layer of fantasy that inserts them into their own universe, the Corvoverse, which has a narrative arc that connects them.

He agrees with his colleagues that with a job like his, “writing is cathartic, because you can reflect on the experience you felt,” although in his books he doesn’t use cases he has worked on: “I would feel like I’m making a profit, financially or in terms of prestige, from the pain it may have caused. I don’t want to perpetuate anyone’s pain.”

Beatriz Torregrossa The mossa who writes erotic novels

The crime genre isn't the only thing written by the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police). There's also Ariadna Tuxell, the pseudonym under which Beatriz Torregrossa has written eighteen erotic novels (specifically, "dark romance "), the latest of which is Sombras en la ciudad (Shadows in the City) (Lince), the first book in a trilogy. Outside of the Catalan police, writers also write in other genres, such as the Aragonese police officer Sebastián Roa, who specializes in historical novels like the recently reissued Almohad Trilogy , or Sin alma. La gesta de Simón de Montfort (Harper Collins). There are also officers who, after experiencing literary success, decide to pursue a career in writing, such as former Mossos d' Esquadra officer Víctor del Árbol—author of the recent El tiempo de las fieras (The Time of Beasts) (Destino) —or former Valencian police officer Pere Cervantes, author of Me olvidé del cielo (Forget the Sky) (Destino).

That doesn't mean he doesn't use anecdotes or scenes from his life, "but always in a disguised way, and except for the occasional homage, changing names and spaces, although it's curious, because readers often see others portrayed, but they don't identify with themselves." There are moments that leave a deep mark, such as the Sant Joan train crash in Castelldefels in 2010, which he draws on to write a scene in Bioko (Ara Llibres, 2013), or the 2017 Rambla attacks, which he used in Els àngels em miren (Angels in Miren) (Ara Llibres, 2019): "They left me affected and being able to write it was a liberation."

From Lleida, Rafa Melero, author of seven novels featuring the recurring Sergeant Xavi Masip, the latest being Dragones de papel (Dragones de papel, Ediciones B), assures that "somehow I learned to write by making police reports." Melero, who had a successful career as an athlete , is very clear that in addition to respecting, like his colleagues, professional secrecy, it is necessary to avoid specifying aspects "that could be used to cause harm," things like how to tap phones, for example.

He doesn't use real cases either—although he reveals that everything that will appear in the next novel actually happened and is documented, but with a good layer of fiction—but rather, when faced with a case, he thinks about how he would do it. His emotions are also real, because literature "is liberating; it's a good way to get horrible things and some frustrations out of you."

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New collection Maurici Serrahima's forgotten detective novel, reissued

There is a certain consensus that the first modern crime novel in Catalan was Es vessa una sang fàcil (It's Even an Easy Blood), published by Manuel de Pedrolo in 1954, but there was something in the air, because only a year later, Estimat senyor fiscal (Dear Mr. Fiscal) by Maurici Serrahima was published, another pioneering work that the publishing house Clandestina is now bringing back to the forefront of the Clàssics catalans collection by Crims.cat, directed by Àlex Martín Escribà, and which in the epilogue, written with Jordi Canals i Artigas, traces a chronology in which Rafael Tasis's La bíblia valenciana (Valencian Bible ), published in the same year 1955, had been written in the 1940s. For the director of the collection, Serrahima's novel "subverts the codes, since there are no detectives or police officers, but rather it is the letter that a man convicted of murder writes to the prosecutor to explain how he ended up in prison," delving into the loneliness of a prisoner who knows he will never get out of prison. There, because in his case there will be no presumption of innocence, leading to a dark and sordid story. Martín Escribà describes the work as a great literary rediscovery by one of the intellectuals who, as a writer, stood out for his diaries, which reflect daily life in intellectual, political, and Catalanist circles in post-war Barcelona. A lawyer by profession, he also stood out for his political side as one of the founders of the Unió Democràtica (Democratic Union). The book, written in just 25 days, "speaks of the judiciary, of the laws, of the justification of a prisoner living behind bars, in a cage, that is, like a dictatorship." Martín Escribà also highlights that the author was inspired by the work Lettre à mon juge by Georges Simenon, an author whose El penjat de Saint-Pholien he later translated in the collection La Cua de Palla directed by Pedrolo. The new collection will be dedicated to vindicating forgotten figures of the Catalan crime genre, such as Llorenç Sant Marc, Maria Aurèlia Capmany and Jaume Fuster.

Melero began writing his first novels in Catalan, but when they were published in Spanish, he found they had a wider readership and was able to access more crime fiction festivals. "I think it's important to bring the name of the Mossos d'Esquadra to the rest of Spain, where I have many readers," he says.

Xus González does use cases he has worked on in his novels, but he blurs the actions, locations and characters, but in this way he can take advantage of the opportunity to “give the emotions and sensations of the police officers, and also the anguish, because we are not robots”, such as El corsario (Reservoir Books), the second installment in the series starring Mossa Silvia Mercado.

Although "the goal is to entertain," he is very clear that crime fiction still contains a component of social criticism, and that includes self-criticism, regarding working conditions, but also police corruption: "Today it's minimal, but it exists, and how it's addressed within the force is important."

"We must remember that we write fiction, our books are not manuals of good body practices," says Rafa Melero.

Since he was a child, Xavier Álvarez Llaberia, author of El Confidante (Rosa dels Vents), has always been fascinated by writing. He had to dedicate time to writing within the criminal behavior analysis group. Furthermore, by writing fiction, he said, "I calm my emotions, and although it can make you uncomfortable, it's good therapy." For him, the limits of confidentiality become clear when a case has already been reported in the written press, but in the case of active police officers, he believes it allows them to "convey a sense of reality."

When they write, they feel a responsibility to represent the police in some way, but at the same time, as Melero says, "we have to remember that we write fiction, not manuals of good police practices." "We reflect the daily life of the police with light and shade, but today things are done differently," says González, because as Álvarez recalls, "today's police officers have nothing to do with the stereotype of the clumsy, alcoholic man. Many of us have university degrees, we play sports, we take care of our diet... and we also work as a team." "Behind the badges and uniforms, there are people," Melero emphasizes. In this case, they also write books.