Pata Negra Award

The first Pata Negra Prize to the best Spanish crime fiction novel, granted by Salamanca Negra – the Crime Fiction Congress held in this beautiful Spanish town-, has been for That Which is Left Unwritten by Rafael Reig. Original title: Lo que no está escrito (Tusquets, 2012). Congratulations to the winner.

The finalists were:

– El enredo de la bolsa y la vida (Eduardo Mendoza, Seix Barral)
– La llamada de un extraño (Rafael Alcalde, Roca)
– La balada de los miserables (Aníbal Malvar, Akal)
– La marca del meridiano (Lorenzo Silva, Planeta)
– Letal como un solo de Charlie Parker (Javier Márquez, Salto de Página)
– Lo que no está escrito (Rafael Reig, Tusquets) WINNER
– No llames a casa (Carlos Zanón, RBA)
– Ruido de cañerías (Luis Gutiérrez, Al Revés)
– Un buen detective no se casa jamás (Marta Sanz, Anagrama)
– Una noche en Amalfi (Begoña Huertas, El Aleph)

La Gaceta de Salamanca

2012 Crime Fiction Alphabet R is for Reig, Rafael Reig

The Crime Fiction Alphabet arrives this week to letter “r”, and my R is for Reig. Rafael Reig was born in Cangas de Onís (Asturias, Spain) in 1963. He spent his childhood in Colombia and studied Philosophy and Literature at Madrid’s Autonoma University. He gave literature classes in New York, where he received his doctorate, and in several American universities. He currently teaches at the school of literary creation Hotel Kafka and is a contributor to several publications, both digital and on paper. From among his novels, Sangre a borbotones [Lengua de trapo, 2002] (Blood on the Saddle, 2006) was awarded the Critics’ Prize in Asturias, was chosen by the Lara Foundation as one of the five best novels written in Spanish in 2002 and was shortlisted for the 2006 Duncan Lawrie International Dagger. Guapa de cara [Lengua de trapo, 2003] is also available in English, A Pretty Face, Serpent’s Tail, 2007. (Information taken from Tusquets Editores).

Bibliography:

• Esa oscura gente(1990)
• La fórmula Omega(Lengua de trapo, 1998)
• Sangre a borbotones (Lengua de trapo, 2002); translated into English as Blood on the Saddle (Serpent’s Tail, 2006)
• Guapa de cara (Lengua de trapo, 2003); translated into English as A pretty face(Profile Books, 2007)
• Autobiografía de Marilyn Monroe(Lengua de trapo, 2005)
• Hazañas del capitán Carpeto(Lengua de trapo, 2005)
• Manual de literatura para caníbales(Debate, 2006)
• Visto para sentencia(Ed. Caballo de Troya, 2008)
• Todo está perdonado(Tusquets Editores, 2011)
• Lo que no está escrito (Tusquets Editores, 2012)

Dickens & Clot Investigations Ltd, a detective agency in a waterlogged Madrid, has a couple of unusual specialities: helping distraught authors in search of characters who’ve quit the page and assumed a life of their own, and taking on Manex Chopeitia, legendary Big Brother of a mighty genetic-engineering company. Carlos Clot-a paunchy, alcoholic private eye gumshoes his way around a drug- and drink-sodden metropolis in a personal quest to put both real’ and fictional’ people in their place. (Fantastic Fiction)

Children’s author Lola Eguibar is dead. With the help of her teenage character Benito, she sets out to investigate her own murder. Set in a surreal Spain that is part of the United States, where everyone speaks Anglo and the world has exhausted its supply of oil, this is a remarkable blend of crime, science fiction, and satire. (Fantastic Fiction)

Todo está perdonado / All is Forgiven. Laura Gamazo, the daughter of a successful businessman, is poisoned to death on her wedding day in Madrid. Herfather, Perico Gamazo, turns to his old protégé, Antonio Menéndez Vigil, a retired intelligence agent, to help Detective Carlos Clot solve the murder case with utmost discretion. Laura was the last descendant of a powerful family line and the murder weapon, a poisoned host, is significant due to the business relationship between her father and the Catholic church, but not only. Vigil knows the story behind the Gamazo’s family fortune, and it is inevitable, therefore, for him to go into the emblematic saga of twentieth century Spain. The police investigation reveals interests and guilt, past sins and impossible purities, while it exposes a dystopian Madrid, flooded but sailable, during the 2008 World Cup. It is a city where new tribes and religions proliferate for whom everything is not forgiven. A complex novel that, with great humour, reinterprets the recent history of Spain from a perspective that is totally new to Spanish literature. (Tusquets Editores)

The 2012 Crime Fiction Alphabet is a Community Meme hosted by Kerrie at Mysteries in Paradise. By Friday of each week participants try to write a blog post about crime fiction related to the letter of the week. Click HERE to visit the contribution of other fellow bloggers.

Todo está perdonado (All is Forgiven) by Rafael Reig

The blurb reads: Laura Gamazo, the daughter of a successful businessman, is poisoned to death on her wedding day in Madrid. Her father, Perico Gamazo, turns to his old protégé, Antonio Menéndez Vigil, a retired intelligence agent, to help Detective Carlos Clot solve the murder case with utmost discretion. Laura was the last descendant of a powerful family line and the murder weapon, a poisoned host, is significant due to the business relationship between her father and the Catholic church, but not only. Vigil knows the story behind the Gamazo’s family fortune, and it is inevitable, therefore, for him to go into the emblematic saga of twentieth century Spain. The police investigation reveals interests and guilt, past sins and impossible purities, while it exposes a dystopian Madrid, flooded but sailable, during the 2008 World Cup. It is a city where new tribes and religions proliferate for whom everything is not forgiven. A complex novel that, with great humour, reinterprets the recent history of Spain from a perspective that is totally new to Spanish literature. (From Tusquets Editores)

In 2010 Rafael Reig won the sixth edition of the Tusquets Editores Novel Prize for Todo Esta Perdonado (Carlos Clot #3).

Rafael Reig is a Spanish writer born in Asturias in 1963. He studied Philosophy and Humanities in Madrid and then in New York, completing his PhD in literature on 19th century literary depictions of prostitution. Among his novels, Sangre a borbotones [Ed. Lengua de trapo, 2002] (Blood on the Saddle, Serpent’s Tail, 2006) was awarded the Critics’ Prize in Asturias and it was chosen by the Lara Foundation as one of the five best novels written in Spanish in 2002 and shortlisted for the 2006 Duncan Lawrie International Dagger. Guapa de cara [Ed. Lengua de trapo, 2003] is also available in English. (A pretty face, Serpent’s Tail, 2007).

Blood on the Saddle has been reviewed by Karen at Euro Crime.

Rafael Reig wins the sixth edition of the Premio Tusquets Editores de Novela

From Fox News Latino, La Prensa and The Complete Review

Spanish writer Rafael Reig won the sixth edition of the Tusquets Editores Novel Prize for his work Todo Esta Perdonado, the jury at the Guadalajara International Book Fair in this western Mexican city announced Tuesday.

In Todo Esta Perdonado (All Is Forgiven), Reig brings to life Laura Gamazo, daughter of a businessman who gets rich during the 1939-1975 Franco dictatorship, and who dies of poisoning on her wedding day. After her death, her father, Perico Gamazo, looks to a friend of the family who used to be a cop to clear up the case, and it is he who relates half a century of Spanish history with the families of both as the thread of the story.

Tusquets Editores (in Spanish)

Rafael Reig Wikipedia (in English)

Blog de Rafael Reig (in Spanish)

Guapa de cara (A Pretty Face) and Blood on the Saddle by Rafael Reig are both translated into English (Serpent’s Tail).