Paco Camarasa in Memoriam

I’ve just read the terrible news that Paco Camarasa is no longer among us. For those of you who do not know him, Paco Camarasa (Valencia, 1950) was the person who knew the most about crime fiction in Spain. Since its inception in 2005 he had been the curator of BCNegra, the well-known crime fiction festival that is held annually in Barcelona. He was a member of the jury for the most important crime fiction awards in Spain: Pepe Carvalho; Dashiell Hammett; Rodolfo Walsh; Memorial Silverio Cañada, and Premio Internacional de Novela Negra RBA, to name just a few. He was also a regular contributor to the written press, coordinator of eight crime fiction reading clubs and taught history of crime and detective fiction at the Ateneo of Barcelona. Blood on the Shelves was his first book on the genre he was most passionate about. His bookshop Negra y Criminal was a reference to all aficionados of the genre, during the time it remained open. My deepest condolences to his family and all his friends.