Alicia Giménez Bartlett, a Spanish author born in Almansa in 1951, presented the novel "Bajo el cielo infernal," published by Destino, with which her character Petra Delicado celebrates her 30th anniversary on bookstore shelves. Petra Delicado is considered the first female police officer in Spanish crime fiction.
The plot revolves around the stabbing murder of a Jesuit priest in the neighborhood of La Mina, in Barcelona. Detective Delicado faces this case while dealing with personal grief, combining the criminal investigation with parish intrigues and dark secrets.
The setting of the novel is La Mina, one of the most disadvantaged and stigmatized neighborhoods in the Barcelona metropolitan area. Giménez Bartlett uses this social context to explore uncomfortable silences and complex plots that unfold in the streets of this territory.
In statements about crime, the author stated that "crime is banal" and that "plots need to be complicated because reality doesn't offer enough," revealing her literary approach that goes beyond mere representation of everyday reality.
