Carmen Mola Retires Elena Blanco at Her Favourite Karaoke

“There will be no more novels featuring Elena Blanco.” This is reiterated without a hint of doubt or tears by the three 'fathers' of the astute and tormented police inspector, the writers behind the pseudonym Carmen Mola: Agustín Martínez, Antonio Mercero, and Jorge Díaz. Far from nostalgia and sorrow, they bid farewell to their legendary character with joy, drinks, and music.

They did so by singing 'Azzurro', by Adriano Celentano, at a karaoke bar in Madrid's Literary Quarter, 'Cheers', a musical refuge for the fifty-something inspector leading the elite Case Analysis Brigade (BAC), a police group that disappears with her. A well-bred woman, addicted to grappa and karaoke, with a disturbing past, 'the Mola' have dedicated five novels to her, which have taken the market by storm.

“The Case Analysis Brigade (BAC) is dead. We will not resurrect it. There will be no prequel or sequel,” they insisted as they bid farewell to Blanco forever with 'Il cielo in una stanza', a song by the legendary Italian artist Mina, which could well be the soundtrack of 'The Clan', the last novel in the saga, performed by singer Dulcinea.

Since the novel hit bookstores in Spain, Latin America, and the US in September, it has sold over 250,000 copies, been translated into five languages, and topped sales charts.

Mercero, Díaz, and Martínez definitively close the collective police adventure they began in the spring of 2017, which crystallised in 2018 with 'The Gypsy Bride', a hit that changed the landscape of crime novels, followed by 'The Purple Network', 'The Girl', 'The Mothers', and 'The Clan'. They sought to “provoke strong sensations and surprise readers”, fans who number over three million and need not worry. “Carmen Mola will survive Elena Blanco,” they confirm.

The 'three tenors' of crime fiction kept the secret of the authorship of Elena Blanco's novels until October 2021, when they became winners of the Planeta Prize and its million-euro purse with 'The Beast'.

On good terms, the three authors have continued with their personal projects, both fiction and scripts. The trio has upcoming engagements with readers: Martínez in February, Díaz in spring, and Mercero after the summer.

'The Beast', the gruesome historical thriller set in late 19th-century Madrid, is the trio's best-selling novel. In 2023, they published 'The Hell', a disturbing intrigue set in the dark world of slavery, spanning Cuba and Madrid.

More than a hundred writers and friends of 'the Mola', including Alice Kellen, Megan Maxwell, Sandra Miró, Eva Orúe, and Santiago Díaz, joined Blanco's musical farewell.