In Marbella, they immersed themselves in the pages while saying goodbye to its most tourist-oriented image. "There is a beautiful, dazzling Marbella, and then there is a more hidden Marbella, which is the one belonging to the mafias. That is where we wanted to go," says Agustín Martínez. As always in their novels, research played a decisive role in the process. "It is one of the stages we enjoy most, because an initial idea ends up transforming itself during the writing. It is fascinating because you never know what you are going to find," Jorge Díaz said. In fact, while working on the novel, they spoke with police officers who introduced them to a somewhat less familiar type of mafia: the Chinese mafia.
"Research is one of the stages we enjoy most; you never know what you are going to find"
"Sister Mei, who is the most powerful and feared by everyone, and who pulls absolutely all the strings in the novel, was initially going to be Italian. Then we researched these mafias and discovered that it was a reality that had been covered less often and was therefore more interesting to explore in fiction."
THE CARMEN MOLA BRAND
Violence is once again present in The Orphans, although Mercero rejected the idea that it is the only element explaining the appeal of Carmen Mola's novels. The trio does not set a prior limit to how far they will go: "We don't have a violence meter. When a scene calls for it, we don't hold back." The writer argues that such situations are also part of reality, which is why they include them in the novel without artificially softening them.
"Violence isn't why our novels are popular; I don't believe that. They are popular because they are stories about families and the relationships between their members," he noted.
This new stage also preserves one of the project's distinctive features: the joint work of three writers under a single name. Mercero describes their relationship in straightforward terms: "We are lucky to get along; many other people wouldn't be able to do the same." After writing eight books together, the trio says it has internalized a way of working that allows them to discuss, compromise and move forward without the process suffering, something they attribute both to their personal rapport and to their years of working together.
They won the Planeta Prize five years ago, but they still remember how it changed them. "You notice it above all in sales, of course, and in the constant attention we didn't have before. It gives you tremendous exposure, but it isn't something I think about all the time, far from it," Díaz explained.
A NEW PROTAGONIST
The new novel also arrives after a farewell that was not easy. Elena Blanco has been left behind after several installments, and Martínez acknowledges that leaving the character behind is somewhat sad. However, the decision to end that story had been made from the moment they wrote the final novel. "When we made the last one, we knew it was the last. We didn't want to become tiresome or for it to turn into one of those book series that go on forever," Díaz explains.
For now, attention is focused on the response to "The Orphans". Although it has only been in bookstores for a short time, Martínez highlighted its positive reception: "It is being received well and getting a good response." The future remains open for the time being. "From here, we'll see. We want to hear what people think," the writers added.
