ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the development of the police novel in contemporary Spain. Whereas once crime fiction from Spain was noted for displaying a profound distrust towards police characters and the police institution, through a study of novels by bestselling authors, Juan Madrid, Alicia Giménez Bartlett and Lorenzo Silva, the chapter argues that the police novel represents an important shift to re-establish state authority. Spanish police novels are not homogenous, however, and the chapter addresses the ways in which the different series negotiate between an over-arching Spanish national identity and alternative subjectivities.
