Eduard Palomares

Jordi Viassolo lands an internship—temporary and poorly paid—at a detective agency in Barcelona. His assignment is simple: keep the office open during the summer and stay out of trouble. Everything changes when a desperate client shows up claiming his wife has disappeared. It seems like an apparently straightforward investigation, perfect for the shy and inexperienced Viassolo to start getting his feet wet on the street. However, the case soon becomes complicated, and the apprentice detective must step out of the bubble he lived in as a student and begin putting into practice what, until now, he had only heard about.

Eduard Palomares takes the legacy of Barcelona noir and gives it a jolt, adapting it to the reality of the twenty-first century: precarious contracts, sky-high rents, mass tourism… The crime becomes an excuse to portray, in fresh and direct language, a Barcelona that evolves at breakneck speed—most of the time in spite of its residents. A novel that is noir, but also luminous.

“A very well-written novel that strengthens the laughter muscles.” Javier Lahoz, El Periódico de Aragón

“It’s an ingenious, fun, and fresh novel. (…) Jordi Viassolo is closer to Andreu Martín’s Flanagan than to Raymond Chandler’s Marlowe; he’s a detective very much of our times.” Rosa Martí, Esquire

“Entertaining, fresh, and very contemporary, it is well written and shows how crime fiction still has the ability to adapt to very modern settings.” Alberto Portolés, Aceprensa

“The novel’s close and lively language allows the author to use crime fiction as an excuse to dissect the social reality of today’s Barcelona, one of the genre’s great hallmarks among European writers.” Germán González, El Mundo

“With well-aimed doses of irony, he portrays contemporary society—something Palomares shares with Mediterranean noir and with his admired Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, Andrea Camilleri, and Petros Márkaris—steering away from the typical mystery thriller.” Ana Abella, El Periódico

“Perhaps the freshest read of the season is We Don’t Close in August, Eduard Palomares’s highly original literary debut. (…) If only there were more crime novels like this one.” Jorge Freire, The Objective

“A first novel that reveals an author deeply versed in the genre as a reader and that starts from an original premise. (…) This story has a lot going for it: the investigation is well handled, the gentle tone works nicely, and it is deft in its tour through the world of detectives—and their miseries—through the disenchanted gaze of a young man living precariously.” Juan Carlos Galindo, El País

“The setting and clever plot make for a stimulating read. Welcome is the gaze of this young man who hustles to get by, gets himself into trouble, and becomes a hero.” Lilian Neuman, La Vanguardia

“A new voice in Barcelona noir. Palomares builds from the viewpoint of his young detective protagonist to portray contemporary Barcelona, marked by real estate pressure and mass tourism. Meanwhile, its residents, beyond the mirage of social media, remain trapped between work and family obligations.” Domingo Villar