Adriana V. López - Barcelona Noir (Akashic Noir)

This collection is comprised of works of fiction. All names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the authors imaginations. Any resemblance to real events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Published by Akashic Books
2011 Akashic Books

Series concept by Tim McLoughlin and Johnny Temple
Barcelona map by Aaron Petrovich

ISBN-13: 978-1-936070-95-4
eISBN-13: 978-1-617750-45-8
Library of Congress Control Number: 2010939099
All rights reserved

First printing

Akashic Books
PO Box 1456
New York, NY 10009
info@akashicbooks.com
www.akashicbooks.com

A LSO IN THE A KASHIC N OIR S ERIES :

Baltimore Noir , edited by Laura Lippman

Boston Noir , edited by Dennis Lehane

Bronx Noir , edited by S.J. Rozan

Brooklyn Noir , edited by Tim McLoughlin

Brooklyn Noir 2: The Classics , edited by Tim McLoughlin

Brooklyn Noir 3: Nothing but the Truth
edited by Tim McLoughlin & Thomas Adcock

Cape Cod Noir , edited by David L. Ulin

Chicago Noir , edited by Neal Pollack

Copenhagen Noir (Denmark), edited by Bo Tao Michalis

D.C. Noir , edited by George Pelecanos

D.C. Noir 2: The Classics , edited by George Pelecanos

Delhi Noir (India), edited by Hirsh Sawhney

Detroit Noir , edited by E.J. Olsen & John C. Hocking

Dublin Noir (Ireland), edited by Ken Bruen

Haiti Noir , edited by Edwidge Danticat

Havana Noir (Cuba), edited by Achy Obejas

Indian Country Noir , edited by Sarah Cortez & Liz Martnez

Istanbul Noir (Turkey), edited by Mustafa Ziyalan & Amy Spangler

Las Vegas Noir , edited by Jarret Keene & Todd James Pierce

London Noir (England), edited by Cathi Unsworth

Lone Star Noir , edited by Bobby Byrd & Johnny Byrd

Los Angeles Noir , edited by Denise Hamilton

Los Angeles Noir 2: The Classics , edited by Denise Hamilton

Manhattan Noir , edited by Lawrence Block

Manhattan Noir 2: The Classics , edited by Lawrence Block

Mexico City Noir (Mexico), edited by Paco I. Taibo II

Miami Noir , edited by Les Standiford

Moscow Noir (Russia), edited by Natalia Smirnova & Julia Goumen

New Orleans Noir , edited by Julie Smith

Orange County Noir , edited by Gary Phillips

Paris Noir (France), edited by Aurlien Masson

Philadelphia Noir , edited by Carlin Romano

Phoenix Noir , edited by Patrick Millikin

Pittsburgh Noir , edited by Kathleen George

Portland Noir , edited by Kevin Sampsell

Queens Noir , edited by Robert Knightly

Richmond Noir, edited by Andrew Blossom, Brian Castleberry & Tom De Haven

Rome Noir (Italy), edited by Chiara Stangalino & Maxim Jakubowski

San Diego Noir , edited by Maryelizabeth Hart

San Francisco Noir , edited by Peter Maravelis

San Francisco Noir 2: The Classics , edited by Peter Maravelis

Seattle Noir , edited by Curt Colbert

Toronto Noir (Canada), edited by Janine Armin & Nathaniel G. Moore

Trinidad Noir , edited by Lisa Allen-Agostini & Jeanne Mason

Twin Cities Noir , edited by Julie Schaper & Steven Horwitz

Wall Street Noir , edited by Peter Spiegelman

F ORTHCOMING :

Bogot Noir (Colombia), edited by Andrea Montejo

Jerusalem Noir , edited by Sayed Kashua

Lagos Noir (Nigeria), edited by Chris Abani

Long Island Noir , edited by Kaylie Jones

Mumbai Noir (India), edited by Altaf Tyrewala

New Jersey Noir , edited by Joyce Carol Oates

Staten Island Noir , edited by Patricia Smith

Venice Noir (Italy), edited by Maxim Jakubowski

T ABLE OF C ONTENTS

B LOODY R AMBLINGS

I ts physical beauty alone, surrounded by mountains with a view of the sea, was cause enough for architect Antoni Gaud to raise his version of Candy Land upon its soil; a daily impetus for the citys mimes and living statues to claim a spot along Las Ramblas and transform it into their stage.

But dont be fooled: Barcelona, with all its illustrious color and exterior fineness, hasnt always been able to curb the darker yearnings of its Hyde to its Jekyll. Blame it on a bubbling, repressive concoction made with a pinch of Church, a touch of Crown, and a large dose of General Francisco Franco to stir up the insides of its very independent and anarchic Catalonian spirit. One that has allowed it to conserve its own language and modus operandi from the rest of Spain, and that has always attracted the vanguard to create under the sereneness of its palm trees and Mediterranean light.

It may be hard to imagine, but Barcelona, presumably named after the Carthaginian general Hamilcar Barca in third century B.C., was once trapped behind the shadows of Roman walls, hidden within the largest concentrated labyrinth of Gothic architecture in all of Europe. Hundreds of years later, the thriving port city would open itself up to commerce, its industrial age, and with it came immigrants, workers, revolution, and vice. Then the city would endure the bloodshed of the Spanish Civil War (19361939), thirtyfive years of Francos iron fist, and, when that was finally over, its cobblestoned streets became breeding grounds of resentment.

If noir is the genre most apt to expressing unease and malice within a society, it took awhile for Barcelona to feel safe to do so. In fact, Spain didnt produce its first novela negra , with a police character and crimes of passion, until 1853, with the publication of Pedro Antonio de Alarcns El Clavo ( The Nail ). But bear in mind that Spain, in general, was not the easiest of places to be an author. Those brave or crazy enough to question the orthodoxy through their writing faced torture, imprisonment, or worse: death. Just remember Federico Garca Lorcas tragic fate at the hands of the Nationalists in 1936.

Over time, more crime fiction was published, though it still faced heavy censorship. Francisco Garca Pavns novelas policacas featuring the police chief Manuel Gonzlez, a.k.a. Plinio, garnered a following in the 1950s and were eventually adapted into a popular television series. This Plinio characterwho could be described as a man of few words, with his right hip attached to his gun and a cigarette appended to the side of his mouthwas without a doubt a pioneer of his time. But a true noir fan would rate the series tepid in comparison to the brutality of Francos very real hit men; the violence portrayed, well, a mere stroll in the park.

It wasnt until Francos death in 1975 that grittier tales began pounding themselves out upon typewriter keys soiled with absinthe and cigarette ash. The bans had been lifted and a new era had emerged. But instead of your classic whodunit style of noir that was popular in the U.K., Spains take on the genre stung with social criticism. Thanks to memorable protagonists created by Catalan novelists such as Francisco Paco Gonzlez Ledesma, with his jaded inspector Ricardo Mndez (featured in this collection), as well as the great and late Manuel Vzquez Montalbn, with his bon vivant detective Pepe Carvalho, Barcelona began to be depicted as it actually was: a city riddled with violence, endemic corruption, and lack of social mobility.

While some of the stories in Barcelona Noir still capture a certain air of this former era, a strange if more sadistic mood lurks through this small postindustrial city of today. Smeared with the pleasure-seeking sheen of its rampant tourist industry, combined with a constant stream of immigration from Africa, Latin America, and Asia, and with the ever-growing tensions of Catalonian nationalism, the city has spawned a fresh new batch of resentments and culture clashes. Enter the underground world of Ral Argems The Slender Charm of Chinese Women, where drugs, xenophobia, and people trafficking manage to remain hidden in the citys darkest corners. In Eric Taylor-Aragns Epiphany, two heartbroken outsiders meet at a bar and make a horrid attempt to escape their existential pain together, while in Jordi Sierra i Fabras A High-End Neighborhood, the citys rich outright torture the foreign help.