Antonio Mercero Santos (born 1969), also going by Antonio Santos Mercero or simply as Antonio Mercero, is a Spanish novelist and screenwriter. He was awarded the 2021

Premio Planeta The Premio Planeta de Novela is a Spanish literary prize, awarded since 1952 by the Spanish publisher Grupo Planeta to an original unpublished novel written in Spanish. It is one of about 16 literary prizes given by Planeta. Financially, it is the ...

for ''La Bestia'', written alongside

Agustín Martínez Agustín Martínez (born 1975) is a Spanish noir fiction novelist and screenwriter. He was awarded the 2021 Premio Planeta for ''La Bestia'', written alongside Antonio Mercero and Jorge Díaz under the pen name Carmen Mola. Biography Born in 1975 ...

and Jorge Díaz under the pen name

Carmen Mola Carmen Mola is a collective pseudonym of three Spanish writers of crime thrillers. The real authors are Jorge Díaz, Agustín Martínez and Antonio Mercero, best known as television scriptwriters. In 2021, the authors won the €1,000,000 Premio ...

Biography

Born in 1969 in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, Mercero earned a degree in Journalism from the

Complutense University of Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; UCM, links=no, ''Universidad de Madrid'', ''Universidad Central de Madrid''; la, Universitas Complutensis Matritensis, links=no) is a public research university loca ...

. He entered the television sector thanks to his father

Antonio Mercero Antonio Mercero Juldain (7 March 1936 – 12 May 2018) was a Spanish director of the television series ''Verano azul'' and ''Farmacia de guardia''. He is best known as the director of a 1972 surrealist short horror film titled '' La cabina'', w ...

, working as writer in ''

Farmacia de Guardia ''Farmacia de guardia'' ("Pharmacy on Duty") is a Spanish comedy serial, originally broadcast on Antena 3 from 1991 to 1995. Cast * Concha Cuetos - Lourdes Cano * Carlos Larrañaga Carlos Larrañaga Ladrón de Guevara (11 March 1937 &nd ...

''. Once he left a career in journalism for good, he has since worked in television series such as ''

Hospital Central ''Hospital Central'' ("Central Hospital"; previously ''Línea Roja'') is a Spanish television series that follows the professional and personal lives of the staff of the fictitious Hospital Central in Madrid. New episodes are shown by Telecinco ...

'' and '' La caza. Tramuntana'' and wrote screenplays of

Gracia Querejeta Gracia Querejeta Marín (; born 13 August 1962) is a Spanish filmmaker. Biography Born in Madrid in 1962, daughter to film producer Elías Querejeta and costume designer María del Carmen Marín. She studied Ancient History in the Universidad ...

's feature films as well as participated in short films. His first novel was ''La cuarta muerte'' (Espasa, 2012), a

coming-of-age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can ...

story. It was followed by ''La vida desatenta'' (DeBolsillo, 2014), ''El final del hombre'' (Alfaguara, 2017) and ''El caso de las japonesas muertas'' (Alfaguara, 2018). The last two are starred by Sofía Luna, a

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

police inspector. He has also written a graphic novel dealing with the repression of homosexuals during the

Francoist dictatorship Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...

: ''El violeta'' (2018). Alongside

and Jorge Díaz, he was one of the three authors closeted behind the

pen name, known for a grim noir novel trilogy published by Penguin Random House's

Alfaguara Alfaguara is a Spanish-language publishing house that serves markets in Latin America, Spain and the United States. It was founded by the Spanish writer and Nobel prize winner Camilo José Cela. History and profile Alfaguara was established in ...

which stars "atypical" inspector Elena Blanco: ''La novia gitana'' (2018), ''La red púrpura'' (2019) and ''La nena'' (2020). The trio wrote another novel (''La bestia'') as Carmen Mola, which was in turn presented as an unpublished work to the jury of the 2021

under the title ''Ciudad de fuego'' and the pen name 'Sergio López'. As they won the award, the trio disclosed the identity behind 'Carmen Mola'. The circumstance of three males disguising under a female pen name and creating a fake female persona ("a female university lecturer") to market the Elena Blanco books did not avoid public scrutiny and controversy. The claimed they were "tired of lying". In early 2021, he was charged with leading the writing team adapting the Carmen Mola's novel ''La novia gitana'' (retrospectively disclosed to be his own work) into a television series format.

Relationships

He is the son of

and Isabel Santos Fernández de la Reguera. His older brother is a director and producer. As of 2021, he is in a relationship with noir fiction novelist .

Works

;Novels * * * * ;Graphic novels * ;Films * '' Quince años y un día'' (''15 Years and One Day'') * ''

Felices 140 ''Felices 140'' is a 2015 Spanish comedy-drama film directed by Gracia Querejeta. It was co-written by Querejeta and Antonio Mercero. It was released in Spain on April 10, 2015. On September 8, 2015 it was one of the three entries shortlisted to ...

'' * ' ;Television series * ''

'' (writer) * '' La caza. Tramuntana'' (writer) ;Pseudonymous works alongside Antonio Mercero and Jorge Díaz * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Santos Mercero, Antonio Spanish novelists Spanish screenwriters 1969 births Complutense University of Madrid alumni Spanish male screenwriters Spanish male novelists Writers from Madrid Living people