Flores Muertas, fourth installment in Inspector Monfort's series: The singer of an indie musical group is murdered during a concert at the Castellón Auditorium.
We are pleased to have today on our blog with Julio Cesar Cano, (Capellades, Barcelona, 1965) creator of the black novel series starring the Inspector Monfort, set in Castellón of the one that already takes four deliveries and that has been awarded the Mediterranean Literature Award.
He turned abruptly when he recognized the voice. He felt the cold run down his spine.
—Surprised? Come closer, have some of this.
—I no longer take drugs —Boira replied terrified.
The speaker exhibited a grimace that hardly resembled a smile.
—Today you are going to do it again and thus you will understand what the song is about.
(Dead Flowers. Julio César Cano)
Actualidad Literatura: Four books, four emblematic places of Castellón where murders are committed ... should the people of Castellón look around each time they cross a tourist spot in the city? They may witness a murder, or they may come across Inspector Monfort. You were not born in Castellón, but on the other hand, is Castellón another protagonist of your novels? How do readers experience it?
Julio Cesar Cano: Some enclaves of the city, such as the Plaza de la Farola or the central market, have become places of visit for those who come to the city and have read some of Inspector Monfort's novels. Brochures and literary routes of the novels are offered at tourist offices. I hope that the people of Castellón feel proud that there are readers who decide to visit the city because of what they have read in my novels.
Castellón is no longer only the province where I set the plots, it is one more character, a protagonist who embraces what happens in the books, for better and for worse. But it's about Castellón as it could be Oviedo, Murcia, Cádiz, Burgos or any other Spanish city. As you have said, I was not born in Castellón, the main character of my novels was not born here either, for that reason I try to convey to readers throughout the country how someone from outside this city and its province sees this literary genre .
AL: And the gastronomy as the second protagonist, because Inspector Monfort likes to eat and eat well.
JCC: Literary characters must have a life of their own, that which is so important and that we sometimes forget called everyday life, what happens to us every day, the common to all mortals: living, eating, sleeping ... And after eating, Spain is a magnificent country and the province of Castellón could be classified as the pantry of the Mediterranean. My fondness for gastronomic literature is reflected in Monfort's novels; He likes to eat well, so do I, so do the inspector's colleagues, and Castellón is an ideal place for it, as is Galicia, Asturias, Euskadi, Andalusia and the whole country in general. In the Nordic novels they eat slices of toast with slices of melted cheese, in the British fish and chips or meat pies. I prefer that my characters put between chest and back a magnificent paella (those from Castellón are the best), or a good lobster stew or a sublime lamb fed in the rich pastures of the interior.
AL: A classic intrigue novel, Inspector Monfort is a lifelong cop, who is more reminiscent of the great Commissioner Maigret de Simenon than the Nordic style that line the shelves of psychopathic serial killer readers who dismember corpses with everything luxury of detail. What will the reader find in your novels?
JCC: On the surface, Inspector Monfort might look like a regular cop; but it is not so much so if we analyze it correctly. Bartolomé Monfort is a man who actually walks through life in search of a wisp of love and hope that make you feel that you are worth feeling alive. Beneath its appearance hides a man with a huge heart (Readers know it all too well), incapable of causing any harm to the people around him. Monfort conveys how hard it is to live alone, how difficult it is to get up in the morning without hearing or being able to say I love you. Monfort represents like few others some of the most important values for the human being such as truth, loyalty or companionship.
AL: Murder of the Plaza de la Farola, Tomorrow if God and the Devil want, I wish you were here and the latest delivery, just released Dead flowers. How has Monfort evolved from his first case to Dead flowers? What does the future Inspector Monfort?
JCC: Monfort and the rest of the usual characters in the novels have evolved in the same way that people do. It's been nine long years since I wrote the first case, Murder in the street lamp square. Readers have followed the series and have also fulfilled those years, it is fair and necessary that the characters of the series evolve, grow older and the passage of time marks the future of their days and I was reflected in the novels.
The future for someone like Inspector Monfort is something that at the moment is only in my head, but the readers are those who with their confidence mark the destiny of a character like him. It will depend on the response of the readers with each novel to make your future come true.
AL: It is always said that the crime novel is the genre that best reflects the social reality. What is behind the cases of Inspector Monfort?
JCC: The different installments of the series truly emphasize the social reality that surrounds us on a daily basis in our society. The four novels denounce some of the greatest evils of the human being, such as envy and loneliness.
AL: Writers mix and centrifuge their memories and the stories they have heard to create characters and situations. You have an original and very attractive work past for readers: manager of international and national pop-rock groups and guitarist of one of them, Gatos Locos, known to all of us who were teenagers or young people in the 80s. In addition to musical taste from Inspector Monfort for the Anglo-Saxon musical idols Pink Floyd, Joe Cocker, Eric Clapton, you set your latest book, Dead flowers, in the musical scene. Everything starts when the singer of an indie group appears dead in the new Auditorium of Castellón. Many memories captured in this latest novel?
JCC: Regards, yes, sure, it is normal. Nor have I wanted to tire the readers with eruditions that were not relevant. It is the first time that I mix the knowledge of the music industry with the novel. In any case, in dead flowers What is clearly reflected is the plummeting of a buoyant music industry that collapsed due to different variants of piracy: illegal downloads on the Internet, the top blanket or the prohibition of organizing concerts in small venues in the country and other issues that made many friends who previously enjoyed good occupational health to join the unemployment lists.
dead flowers talks about music from the side that few people know. The formation in which the dead singer is active is an indie group, or what is the same, a musical formation not always accepted in some formula radio stations and in prime-time television programs, a group that to achieve success the country must be kicked to show live that what they do is worth it.
As for the inspector's musical tastes, they are evident in the four novels, in which he is always a fundamental part, such as the setting or the rest of the characters. Monfort lives accompanied by music, is her best friend, the one who never fails her. The songs are there to make your life better, even to help you solve the cases.
Julio César Cano, from artist representative in the recording industry to bestselling crime novel.
AL: Inspector Bartolomé Monfort is a man who cares little about living or dying, after losing his wife in a traffic accident. He is in his fifties, fond of music, gastronomy, wine and a compulsive smoker ...What has Julio given to Bartholomew and what Bartholomew to Julio?
JCC: Monfort cared little about his life in the first novel; In the second, he was reunited with Silvia Redó after that first case, and for some reason he believed that he should take care of her. Monfort has been humanized in each book. There is little left of that cop who didn't mind waking up from his own nightmares. Now he has far exceeded the imaginary barrier of fifty. Grandmother Irene, Silvia Redó, Commissioner Romerales and in the last two installments the appearance of Judge Elvira Figueroa, have made Monfort feel that this side of life is not so bad. I feel proud when I see the protagonists grow, and with it everything in their lives, not only the professional facet that appears prominently in the novels, but also in the day to day, in the everyday, as I said before. I am convinced that the public appreciates that things happen, not only criminal or decisive, simpler things, those that happen to all of us every day.
I gave life to Inspector Monfort by creating the character, he has given me back the illusion of continuing in the gap.
AL: I never ask a writer to choose between his novels, but we do like it. meet you as reader. In your case, curiosity is greater than ever: will Julio's favorite books be cookbooks, gastronomic novels, musical biographies, the classic crime novel ...? Which that book what do you remember with special Honey, what comforts you to see it on your shelf? ¿Algaún author that you are passionate about, of those of which you buy the nothing else that are published?
JCC: I have a special affection for many books, for many authors of different literary genres, but since I suppose you want me to confess, I will tell you that there are two works for which I have a real passion: Dracula by Bram Stoker and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Then there are many more, of course, but these two are a good example of what I like to read, what I like to write. In them is everything that motivates me as a writer.
I am passionate about many authors, and yes, some of them I buy as soon as I know that they have published something new: Ian Rankin, Peter May, Charlotte Link, Jussi Adler-Olsen, Ann Cleves ...
AL: What are the special moments of your professional career? Those that you will tell your grandchildren.
JCC: Grandchildren ... when I have grandchildren, what will I tell them? In my case, I see myself as Grandpa Chive, telling them stories of the musicians I have been lucky enough to meet, of the writers I have met ... The most special moments in my writing career have often been the loneliest: find the meaning of a lot of ideas that flutter around in the head almost meaningless until it seems to become a future novel; finish it at last; acceptance by the publisher; The corrections; when you receive the first copies and caress them over and over again; when I see them exposed in bookstores. And also the presentations of each one of them, which always seem the first time; the recognitions, the awards (if any), the words of the readers who have enjoyed them. There are countless special moments. Writing is a lonely job, sharing it with others and enjoying it is perhaps the greatest of joys.
AL: In these times when technology is a constant in our lives, it is inevitable because of the social media, a phenomenon that divides writers between those who reject them as a professional tool and those who adore them. How do you live it? What do social networks bring you? Do they outweigh the inconvenience?
JCC: Young people control them perfectly, I confess myself a bit clumsy in this matter. They attract me, I use them as best I can, I know that they are an almost indispensable work tool in these times. I try to keep up to date, especially not to screw up, not to overdo it (difficult), not to bore (more difficult); I doubt many times, I try to be respectful and learn every day, I hope to do it well and that my readers do not find it a heavy and outdated face. But I love reading the great and painstaking reviews bloggers write about the books, or seeing photos, some great ones, of my books on social media. Some publications are true works of art.
AL: Book digital or paper?
JCC: Always on paper. But I'm not against it, it would be missing more, each one who chooses his preferred medium to read, as long as it is legally.
AL: Does the literary piracy?
JCC: In the Google search engine there are as many possibilities to buy my novels legally as illegal. Everything is there, it is just a matter of doing things properly or not, of leaving the author with nothing or of paying our share as readers. There seems to be no defense for it. It's just a question of: Yes / No.
I have already seen too many colleagues fall like a castle of cards in the music industry because others pressed the button of the illegal download. Piracy must be stopped somehow. Not only could it be the end of those of us who write, it could also be the end of bookstores, libraries, and with it culture in general.
AL: To close, as always, I am going to ask you the most intimate question that can be asked of a writer:whyé you write?
JCC: To tell others what I see, what I feel, what I eat, what I hear, the places I've been, the people I've met. I write a travel guide of my own life.
AL: Thank you Julio Cesar Cano, wish you many successes in all your professional and personal facets, that the streak does not stop and that you continue to surprise us with each new dish and with each new novel.
JCC: Thank you very much for your great questions. It has really been a pleasure.