Commissioner Gorgonio Llaneza was born in the short story and raised in two novels: Death opened the legend (2016) and Matanza de Atocha, 1977: open case (2022). The idea of detailing the now honorary commissioner Gorgonio was given to Alejandro M. Gallo after the publication of the last one; here he used footnotes to inform the reader where this or that problem occurred in the senior police officer’s post. adventures. : «Many of the stories were out of print, out of print or inaccessible. Thus, at the suggestion of several readers, the idea was born to collect the most representative ones in one volume.
Brief profile of the character: “He was born in Asturias, solves murders all over the world, and says ‘Damn my cloak!’ He is a police hero who popularized the idea of , when the investigations involve something equivalent to the ‘Damn!’ in Gabriel García Márquez’s character. “A man who seems to be behind everything, but cannot stop thinking and questioning the world he lives in. Hence the so-called postmodern, far from common sense He makes open and harsh judgments about the attitudes and actions of this welfare society, where irrational behavior prevails. Despite his apparent disbelief and distance from reality, he makes a subtle and harsh criticism of our society, both its people and its traditions. He is especially cruel when talking about the cultural world and cultural stance. Despite the silence and moodiness of this grumpy character, his desire to live comes to the fore.
Their adventures take place in New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Buenos Aires… “to show us how postmodernism affects different societies unequally.” In these environments, he develops his police profession in a way that is far from the ‘suffering detective’ profile in today’s novels and the ‘ex-cop, former alcoholic-turned-private detective’ profile from which many things are copied. Gorgonio has bad habits, smoking a lot and occasionally drinking a glass of red wine ‘to feed his black neuron with nicotine’, but he is neither an alcoholic nor a man who has suffered major traumas.
The hero makes harsh comments about the CSI fashion, “because he defends the phrase ‘the evidence speaks for itself’ and that is not true of Gorgonio, who says ‘the evidence does not speak, it is the investigator who makes it speak’.” . The investigative team includes “the current boss of Pepote, his former colleague from school and the scientist he spends his time berating; Inspector Mari, a profiler with whom he has an old conflict to resolve; Matías, rude and simple, and Manolo Catarella, the youngest member of the group. The events are driven by unbridled greed.” , ranging from ancient revenge to jealousy between a partner or professional; the power of religious sects; assassination in geostrategic and military matters; or involuntary manslaughter for childhood reasons.